Broken Bridge
by SummertimeRose
Summary: What if Quasimodo's mother survived the fall on the Cathedral's steps? Her name is Jocelyna and she's spent 20 years desperately wishing she could see her son again who'd been locked away in Notre Dame's bell tower by the cruel Minister of Justice. Based slightly on the Disney version with a few added/changed bits. It takes place around the 15th-16th century. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1 The Trip

**Chapter 1- The Trip**

She was only 17 years old but today she had dealt with things far beyond her years.

Jocelyna had been told a few days ago by one of her closest friends back at the gypsy camp that if she moved to Paris she could seek medical help for her baby and refuge in another gypsy camp, the Court of Miracles. She initially thought the idea absurd- she'd heard about the cruel minister of Justice there who despises gypsies- but looking down at her son, Rhayeder in the "condition" that he was in brought her to agree. Rhayeder was only 3 weeks old. She loved her child with all her heart, as a mother would, and would do absolutely anything for him, even if his appearance was...unfortunate.

The child was deformed. With a tetrahedron nose that looked as though it had been squashed up his face, a large mound over his left eye which, Jocelyna was sure, hinders his vision, and a large camel-like hump on his back which she tried to cover as best as she could with his blankets when around the gypsy children to avoid jeers. Aside from that, he was as pale as snow, which Jocelyn thought strange since both her and the boy's father were tanned, and had very red hair - again, something Jocelyna thought strange. Everyone in the gypsy camp was harmless and nearly everyone welcomed Rhayeder as their own and embraced his 'uniqueness' but she still felt weary around the children. Though she knew they wouldn't physically hurt Rhayeder, she still felt they would be too young to understand that Rhayeder was merely deformed rather than "a goblin" which she heard one of the gypsy boys call Rhayeder when he was just a day old.

His twisted spine was exactly the reason why she considered seeking medical help. Every night since Rhayeder's birth, she had awoken to ear-piercing screaming coming from the small bundle of blankets by her own blankets. Jocelyna knew instantly that these cries were not the normal ones every baby makes, but more a cry of pain. It was then that she realised Rhayeder's spine was causing him enormous pain lying down which she figured was why Rhayeder only cried during the night when she had laid him down for bed- it was the pressure of the floor on his back that caused the pain. His back did protrude at an odd angle but, until then, she never thought it as a cause of pain for the boy. She knew seeking medical help wouldn't exactly take away his ill-fated characteristics but to be honest, she didn't care one bit, in her eyes he was perfect but she desperately wanted to relieve her poor son of the pain his back caused him every night.

Her older brother, Lucentio, decided to come too with his friend, Gramio, to protect Jocelyna and the baby if any trouble came to them. Of course the street-wise gypsy was more than capable of protecting herself and the baby but the fact that her usually-distant brother cared for her and Rhayeder's safety led her to let it slide. Jocelyna had not spoken to her brother for a while since Rhayeder's birth- she knew it was because of Rhayeder that kept him at a distance. Still, she was glad he'd finally come round and even offered to come with them on the boat trip to Paris. Lucentio suggested they set off in the early hours when everyone would be asleep to make the chance of getting to Paris unseen more likely. Jocelyna couldn't agree more since she didn't plan on meeting Minister Frollo anytime soon.

It was during the early hours when the four finally set off after rounds of goodbyes with their many gypsy friends- she would miss them all dearly. She'd taken her warmest cloak- light navy which had an attached hood and wrapped extra blankets around Rhayeder to keep him warm too in the icy September winds. Even getting ready for the trip, she constantly thought the idea pointless- no one would want to serve or even associate with gypsies, she thought, but glancing down at her son, her beautiful, perfect son, with his big, bright blue eyes gazing lovingly up to her gave her the strength and motivation to do all she could to make his life just that little bit better.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** First chapter! So, what do u guys think? Any reviews would be warmly received :-)

For those that are interested, the name, 'Rhayeder' comes from 'The Snow Goose' which is the name for the hunchbacked lighthouse keeper- I thought there was some kind of connection there :-)


	2. Chapter 2 Caught

**Chapter 2- Caught**

The trip wasn't exactly smooth. The wind was propelling incredibly strongly against the boat with the four frozen gypsies huddling together inside. Rhayeder wouldn't stop crying from being so cold but Jocelyna only owned three blankets for him which she'd already wrapped him around with. But it clearly wasn't enough.

"Shut it up will you!" demanded her brother, "we'll be dead if we're found, you know!"

Jocelyna nodded in agreement and tried humming soft lullabies and melodies to help her freezing son to go to sleep but the icy wind was too overwhelming for his tiny body to relax into a slumber.

After what seemed like way more than four hours, the four had passed under a bridge which revealed the Paris docks- they had arrived. Neither one dared utter a word whilst unloading what little possessions they had from the boat. Jocelyna was now very glad she'd agreed with her friend to go on this trip since the part she'd feared the most was finally over- getting into Paris unseen. She gave her brother a grateful smile for deciding to come with her; looking back she really wouldn't have wanted to go on the trip alone.

Suddenly, however, just as Lucentio was unloading their trunk full of clothes onto the boarder, an arrow soared past Jocelyna's shoulder, missing her by millimetres, and landed into the water in a neat ripple in front of them. All three gypsies whipped around and gasped in horror as soldiers coming from all directions piled into the docks- they had been caught.

Jocelyna exchanged a glance with her brother to show her utmost apologies for his company on the trip and was just about to run to him when she heard deafening footsteps of a black stallion, three times the size of herself, galloping its way directly towards them. Jocelyna slowly glanced up to observe its rider.

Jocelyna had never actually seen him before but she recognised him instantly from the descriptions she'd heard from her unlucky friends back at the camp who used to live in Paris who had the acutely unpleasant experience of passing him in the street when in disguise to acquire food. The bony horse-shaped face, the black eyes- so small and hollow-looking they resembled buttons, the impossibly thin lips shaped into a permanent frown and the coarse charcoal-gray hair partly hidden from his Minister hat fit the descriptions perfectly- this was none other than the Minister of Justice himself, Judge Claude Frollo.

He eyed all three of them disgustedly and spoke with a voice like thunder, "bring these gypsy vermin to the Palace of Justice."

Jocelyna's eyes widened with horror as with her brother's at the name of the place she heard only too many times in anguished and distressed tones back at the camp. She wasn't going to let that happen to them but before she had time to think of a plan, she saw her brother and his friend, Gramio, already being handcuffed and forced up a mound that led out of the docks and on to land. Before she had time to run after them, however, a gloved hand snatched at her skinny arm and the owner of that hand sneered at the bundle she had all the while been tightly hiding in the seams of her cloak.

"You! What have you got there? What are you hiding!?" shouted the soldier.

Jocelyna tried to think of a response that would save her baby getting caught but the now all too familiar voice sounded in her ears once again.

"Stolen goods no doubt, take them from her!"

She was not in a million years ever going to let her only son be taken away from her. Not in a million years would she ever hand over her beautiful child. No.

Before even she realised what she was doing, she had found herself released of the concrete grip of the soldier and sprinting out of the docks and onto the terraces. The quick glimpse behind her that she dared to make revealed Judge Frollo already tearing after her on his horse.

The same icy wind that had kept the four gypsies frozen stiff in the boat not five minutes ago pierced her face as she ran but, this time, she couldn't care less- she had to get her son out of harm. She ran through the village, out onto the balconies of the buildings and even hopped over a few tall fences with her free hand in her effort to lose the Judge. Her lungs were giving way and her feet were beginning to numb but the beautiful silhouette of Notre Dame Cathedral coming into view through the fog towering importantly above every single other building becoming nearer and nearer with her every step gave her the strength to keep running. It was her sanctuary.

She was so close now, just yards away. She saw out the corner of her eye the shape of Frollo's horse, only slightly veiled by the mist but that only gave her the determination to run faster.

She began to ascend the steps supporting the stunning cathedral.

"SANCTUARY! PLEASE! GIVE US SANCTUARY!" she cried, praying her cries did not land on deaf ears as she banged her first several times on the solid, oak doors easily three times her height. She was just about to bang her fist another time when the very recognizable galloping announced that Frollo was just inches away. Having no success with her knocks and pleas being heard, she decided to run again, only this time Frollo had finally caught up and was now cantering adjacent to her.

Frollo deemed this a good opportunity to get his hands on these stolen goods.

All of a sudden, whilst she was still running, Jocelyna watched Frollo's gloved hand as it landed on Rhayeder and gripped onto his blankets incredibly tightly; forcefully yanking it back. Jocelyna was quick enough to react and hold onto her child with all the strength in her that remained. All of a sudden, she felt something hard meet with her chest and force her whole body to go off balance; the impact knocking her backwards and onto the cold, stone steps.

She had just enough strength to lift her head up in time to see Frollo holding Rhayeder with one outstretched arm. All she heard was the muffled tone of someone crying, "monster!" before letting her head fall to the icy concrete, slipping into unconsciousness.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** That was a particularly exciting chapter to write! Don't worry, in this version of HoND, Quasi's mother isn't dead- which is kinda the whole point- just unconscious for now. I don't blame her after running all that way constantly with a something-lb baby in one arm!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted with more chapters soooo in the meantime, keep reviewing! :-D


	3. Chapter 3 Sacrifice

**Chapter 3- Sacrifice**

It was beginning to snow when Jocelyna began to come around, but only slightly. She had been lying on the stone steps unconscious for only a couple of minutes when she felt a warm touch on her shoulder followed by a voice which she instantly recognised rooted just a few yards away.

"This is an unholy demon, I'm sending it back to hell where it belongs!" came that easily recognisable voice which she knew, if she survived tonight, would haunt her forever.

A voice coming from someone closest to her replied, "See there the innocent blood you have spilled on the steps of Notre Dame. You knew she was guiltless yet you pursued in chasing her!"

She then felt that warm touch on her back which brought her off the ground- she was being carried by someone.

That gentle voice sounding closest to her spoke again, "you will look after the child as payment for killing this innocent woman," though she could have sworn the gentle-voiced man had given a slight gasp when she had stirred slightly in his arms only moments ago.

Jocelyna was now beginning to be more aware of her surroundings as she slowly opened her eyes. The last few minutes was now a blur and Jocelyna could barely remember anything but before she could at least try to recollect she felt that familiar rush of dizziness consume her once again and bring her to faint again in those warm arms protecting her.

"Miss...Miss? Are you awake? Can you hear me?" came the words from that gentle voice she recognised from in front of the Cathedral only moments ago.

Jocelyna gave a small groan in response before finding the strength to open her eyes once more. Once her eyes had adjusted she recognised that she was no longer in the bitter freezing wind but in a small room decorated with four lit candles placed in each corner.

It really was a small room. She noticed one very old chair supported against the wall in front of her and what looked like a small table with a Bible lying on top against the other wall. She also became aware of what she was lying on. It seemed, to her, a bed of some sort though it felt incredibly hard on her fragile bony back. She then concluded it was more a wooden table than a bed.

That kind voice sounded again, "Miss?"

This time she noticed a rather small man with grey hair, wearing white, expensive-looking robes and sandals, sitting in a small chair next to her.

"Is there anything I can get you?" came that voice once she had fluttered her eyes several times to signal that she was alive and awake. She weakly brought her hand behind her to support her weight as she gradually lifted her head and positioned her whole body so that she was sitting on the table and facing the man whose face looked as gentle as his voice. She had not spoken for a while so her voice felt very small and quiet but she had to say something to this man for rescuing her from the cruel minister.

The man, now aware that she was awake, was obviously sitting anxiously, though trying to appear patient, waiting for a proper response.

"No, I'm fine thank you," she said, opening and closing her eyes several times to adjust to the new light better. She knew she looked comical but the kind-looking man didn't smirk.

"Tell me sir, where am I? Last thing I knew I was outside the cathedral and..." She motioned her hand vaguely in front of her, "and I was being... carried."

The man smiled at her, "I was the one you carried you and brought you here. You are in Notre Dame Cathedral herself."

She now realised this man must be the Cathedral's archdeacon; the important-looking robes said it all.

It now all began to come back to Jocelyna. The events outside the Cathedral and before then- the capture, the running, the falling... she suddenly remembered, "WHERE'S RHAYEDER? WHERE'S MY SON?" she suddenly yelled.

The man was slightly taken back by the young woman's sudden outburst but relaxed and adjusted himself in his seat, as though in preparation to hear some big news.

"My dear, I don't know how I can bring myself to tell you this. Well, you see, your son was taken by Minister Frollo..." Jocelyna's eyes suddenly widened and she looked as though she was going to pounce on the man, until he put his hand up just in time. "No, it isn't what it seems. I told Minister Frollo to care for the child, not kill it, to make up for killing... well Frollo doesn't know you're alive... and he doesn't need to."

"B-b-but, but, I-I don't..." was all the stunned gypsy could utter. "I don't understand, he's my son! Can't you just get him back from Frollo? He's my son!"

The Archdeacon looked remorsefully at the woman, "I know this is incredibly, incredibly hard and not what any mother wants to hear so I give my deepest, deepest apologies for what I am about to tell you. You see... I want Minister Frollo to take care of the child." Jocelyna stared at the Archdeacon, obviously expecting him to crack up and explain what he just said to be a joke, but no trace of a smile was on the man's lips.

He continued. "I have seen Frollo do the most cold-blooded, inhuman, monstrous things to innocent people and it is only because of the anger inside him that leads him to carry out these things. I have prayed and prayed to God to change the error of his ways and I feel your son might just be the answer to my prayer. I believe Frollo raising your son as his own will be the making of him and would allow him to finally feel compassion and love, not anger and cruelty that cause him to murder so often. I can't imagine what you must be going through right now and it pains me that I am taking away the most precious and beautiful thing in your life but he has destroyed so many innocent lives and will continue to if he doesn't learn compassion and kindness which I believe your son, Rhayeder will give him. I didn't realise you were even alive but then Frollo already... knew about your son. If I had asked him to give your son back to you after realising you were alive, he would have murdered him as well as you instead; he wants to rid anything in the world that isn't his definition of 'perfect'. Frollo has assured me that he will keep Rhayeder in a safe place, the bell tower of this Cathedral in which he will soon become the bell ringer, where he has promised to bring food to him regularly and visit him often in order to entertain and spend time with the boy. But Frollo has ordered him to be locked away in that tower which, I'm afraid, means you won't be able to visit him."

Jocelyna gave a cry of outrage but the Archdeacon ignored her and continued. "It really is the only way your life, the boy's life and the life of everyone else can be saved."

The Archdeacon sat back in his chair to signal he had finished talking, leaving Jocelyna hunched into a ball on the table, tears now streaming down her face. She knew what that cruel man was capable of doing to people, particularly the gypsies, from the stories she had heard from many of her friends back at the camp. She couldn't bear more innocent people being murdered for goodness knows what stupid reasons Frollo thought of. The image of her brother, Lucentio and Gramio being led up the mound on the docks to what awful fate awaited them came into her head and it was wondering what Frollo did to them that made her incredibly angry. She understood why the Archdeacon was doing this. She just had to sacrifice him, for the sake of her people, especially her brother, and every other mortal soul out there.

After a couple of hours in that small room in the Cathedral, after the Archdeacon had consoled Jocelyna and assured her that, though she wouldn't be allowed to visit Rhayeder up in the bell tower, tonight wouldn't be the last time she would see her son, the two emerged and began walking slowly to the Oak doors of the Cathedral.

Jocelyna only realised it was daytime when the Archdeacon pulled back the doors, with the help of Jocelyna, to allow a brilliant stream of sunlight to thrust its way into the Cathedral, temporarily blinding the gypsy.

"Do you have a place to stay?" enquired the kind Archdeacon softly as he stepped aside to let the young woman out. Jocelyna nodded after remembering the Court of Miracles, the Paris gypsy camp her brother, Gramio, Rhayeder and herself were supposed to have been heading to.

The Archdeacon abruptly pulled Jocelyna into a tight hug which she very much needed and appreciated and waved a small goodbye, gradually closing the oak door and leaving Jocelyna on the steps. She walked a few paces forward to allow herself to be soaked up by the sun and looked up at the Cathedral's bell tower situated high above her, muttering a small prayer for her son.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** :'(

I didn't have much control when writing the character of Jocelyna, she just writes herself! I can't imagine what she must be feeling, having to give up her son to save a bunch of innocent people from being murdered. This plan of the Archdeacon's better work!

Soooo, as always, keep reviewing, it would mean a lot :-D


	4. Chapter 4 Birthday

**Chapter 4- Birthday**

Ten years had passed since that fateful night. Jocelyna was now 27 years old. Not a day went by when Jocelyna didn't think of Rhayeder.

Every year on his birthday, she would visit Notre Dame Cathedral and lay a single rose in the 'offerings' tray as a 'Happy Birthday' to Rhayeder as well as a way of telling him how much she loved him. Though she knew Rhayeder would not remember her or know of her love for him, she, nonetheless, couldn't help but hope that, somehow, something inside Rhayeder would let him remember Jocelyna and who she is and let him know just how much he is loved.

Jocelyna had spent ten years in the Court of Miracles and was very fond of her friends that lived there too. She had a few close friends and some general acquaintances which she mingled happily with at mealtimes and parties.

The 22 year old, self-proclaimed leader of the gypsies, Clopin, was always someone Jocelyna found the most interesting, albeit strange, but she loved his goofy behaviour and incredible energy.

What she particularly loved about living in an area that sheltered so many people was the new face she noticed every now and again, either a new-born child or a newcomer that had travelled far from the many other gypsy camps she had heard about. Her days in the camp usually consisted of taking care of the babies, which she loved so much as they reminded her a lot of Rhayeder, playing with the gypsy children which she also loved to do, as they were so energetic which she loved to see, helping prepare various meals with the gypsies that loved to cook, helping make more clothes for the ever-growing populace, and generally chatting and having fun with everyone.

The thing she most of all loved to do and looked forward to, along with every other gypsy, was attending the many parties held at the camp. This was a chance to eat all you can eat, act crazy and not be judged, relax and let yourself go and, in particular, dance, which Jocelyna LOVED to do. She always had loved dancing, as the violins always carried her to some place completely different every time she tapped her feet to the rhythm. When dancing, she can just forget about everything and be anyone she wanted to be. Dancing has always been a big part of gypsy parties so literally everyone will get up from their cushions and join in when the first note of the violin is heard; creating an array of colours from the ribbons and sashes whirled about from each dancing gypsy with every step. It truly is a magical moment.

The only time Jocelyna hates in the gypsy camp, and it occurs every single night, is when she sees the empty space next to her in her bed that would have nested Rhayeder. Just thinking of Rhayeder growing up gives her a weak feeling in her stomach, as she cannot watch Rhayeder grow and learn every single day. Just the thought of Frollo taking her place and being the one who shares these moments of Rhayeder's life gives her a sickly feeling that usually stays until well into the next day.

Jocelyna couldn't believe Rhayeder was already 10 years old. He was no longer the small bundle she constantly held so close to her chest, but a child.

It was still very early in the morning when Jocelyna sat up on her blankets and crossed off with a small palette knife the number '9' that was etched into the wall of her sleeping wagon, alongside a crossed-off '8' and so on until the number '1', also crossed off, took the space on the corner of the wall. She then used the same knife to scratch a distinct '1' and then, next to it, a '0'. It was his 10th birthday today and, like every year, Jocelyna was going to visit Notre Dame and deliver her rose.

These roses were not easy to find and often involved some unbelievable patience as she waited for the farmer to leave his hut on a nearby field, not far from the camp, in order to get the rose. The patch of roses just so happened to be situated exactly where the farmer's hut was so when Jocelyna was sure the farmer had left the hut to tend to his animals nearby, she would dash as fast as she could to the patch, pull one out and sprint to the other end of the field, back to the camp. She did this every year but she knew that somehow it was worth it.

The sun was already high in the sky when Jocelyna finally set off, after a long breakfast with her friends, towards Notre Dame. Thankfully, the camp wasn't too far from the Cathedral so Jocelyna was more than happy just slowly walking along the Seine and observing the other citizens of Paris as they tend to their everyday chores.

She always wore a cloak when on outings, the light navy one she wore on 'the trip' ten years ago, as she knew some Paris citizens didn't care for gypsies and often frowned at her at the first sight of her exotic, multi-coloured gypsy attire. At least with the cloak she could blend in and enjoy perusing the stalls that so often decorated the Paris streets with no trouble.

After several minutes observing various vases and plates at a nearby crafts stall, she made her way across the town square to the Cathedral which, even to this day, took her breath away and made her stop and stand still, voluntary or not, and soak in its intrinsic beauty.

Once entering the Cathedral through those giant oak doors which she now knew very well, which were already open, she made her annual walk to the 'offerings' tray that was placed in a corner next to a statue of the virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. Examining the statue, Jocelyna couldn't help but be reminded of herself long ago, holding Rhayeder the same way.

She drew the precious rose from her cloak pocket, having earlier completed her tricky annual task of retrieving it from the farmer's patch, and placed it with both hands, as though it were a newborn baby, carefully into the tray. She then stared at the rose, as though expecting it to magically light up, and simply whispered, "Happy birthday, Rhayeder. I love you with all my heart and miss you dearly."

After blowing a kiss to the rose, she looked up above her to the great mosaic ceiling, picturing Rhayeder in the bell tower only metres above her. She was so close to him, yet still so far away.

Having stood in that same position with her head aloft for a while, she eventually decided she was finished and began to leave. She made her way solemnly back to the doors but just as she was about to leave the Cathedral, she stopped in her tracks for she heard a sound. The sound of bells.

She was certain she wasn't imagining it but she made her way back into the Cathedral to verify that what she heard was, in fact, real. She spotted an eave in the Cathedral's wall next to her and began to make her way towards it.

Indeed, like she predicted, the sound of bells was louder. They were so unbelievably beautiful to hear, with each bell performing a different note, creating a harmony. This then made her realise that the bells were chiming for morning mass, which explained the open oak doors and the amounts of people filing into the Cathedral which Jocelyna assumed were here to attend the service.

The thought that came to Jocelyna next gave her an unusual warm, fuzzy feeling inside–Rhayeder must be the one ringing these bells!

She knew she was right, as she recalled the kind Archdeacon telling her this 10 years ago in that small room she can barely picture now.

_Frollo has assured me that he will keep Rhayeder in a safe place, the bell tower of this Cathedral in which he will soon become the bell ringer_.

If asked, Jocelyna would not have been able to explain her feelings at the present moment. She was just so unbelievably happy, partly that he was alive, as she knew Frollo's initial intentions to kill Rhayeder as a baby, and also because it was just so amazing knowing that he was so close to her and that she was so close to him. Knowing her son was ringing the bells made them sound even more beautiful- she knew she would be hearing those bells in her head forever.

Jocelyna stood where she was and closed her eyes for a few minutes, just listening to the variety of notes the bells made and the melodies they created. When the bells had finally finished and Jocelyna had opened her eyes, she was tingling all over which brought her to smile.

It was the first smile, she recalled, that she had made when thinking about Rhayeder, for she was not thinking of him in a state of sorrow and loss but of hope that, soon, the two would be united once again.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **

:D Looks like things could work out ok :-)

Notice the 'Notre Dame De Paris' reference I made with Jocelyna placing the rose, as though it were a _newborn baby_, into the offerings tray, like Quasi's mother placed him in the offerings tray.

Next chapter will be about Rhayeder, now Quasimodo, and basically takes place right after Jocelyna smiles to herself in the Cathedral, soooo stay tuned and, as ever, reviews would be very nice :-)


	5. Chapter 5 Quasimodo

**Chapter 5- Quasimodo**

The sunlight was just beginning to move higher in the sky, its rays peeking between the wooden boards that decorated the inner layers of Notre Dame's bell tower.

Quasimodo had been ringing the bells for four minutes now, jumping onto the many different ropes of each bell as he did to heighten the chance of the melody to flow better rather than noticeable gaps forming in between each note.

Though Quasimodo was only 10 years old, still a child, the strength he gained from ringing the bells many times daily was far, far beyond that of an average child. It was due to his incredible strength that enabled him to ring the many extremely heavy bells of the Cathedral.

Quasimodo loved ringing the bells, as it was the only place where he could escape reality completely, escape who he was and especially escape his... deformity.

He had always known he was a bit different from many of the other children he so frequently noticed in the streets far below him. It was through comparison that made him realise this. No other child he observed down in the streets of Paris, he noticed, had a funny-shaped nose, a large wart covering their left eye and a severely hunched back which, every night, caused him a great amount of pain when lying down. Quasimodo also guessed he was different just from the fact that no other child he watched down below on the streets was forced to live isolated and lonely in a bell tower by a cruel guardian. So Quasimodo was very aware of his deformity but ringing the bells, acting as a form of escapism, was what makes the long and very lonely days being who and what he is just that more bearable.

After one last mighty pull on Louise-Marie, ending his intended tune on a high A, Quasimodo stood still for a moment in order to capture a last glimpse of the swings of the bells he'd just rung, singing their last notes, before climbing down the ladder of the wooden platform used to ring the bells and jumping onto the hard floor of the bell tower directly below.

Quasimodo glanced upwards as far as his misshapen back would allow towards the bells once again; he always found he can really appreciate the utter beauty of the bells when he observed them from all different angles. Only Quasimodo could tell the bells apart and notice the unique beauty of every single one.

After walking very awkwardly, due to his pronounced limp because of his left leg being considerably shorter than the right, across the bell tower floor, Quasimodo made his way outside onto the Cathedral's balcony in front to, once again, observe the city and the familiar faces down in the streets below.

He rested his chin on his palm which was propped up by his elbow of his ever-growing thick, muscular arm that rested on the balcony wall and sighed, breathing in the warm September breeze which then swept through his hair, causing the silky strands of brilliant red to dance upon his head.

He spotted down below a stall merchant trying to shoo a cat and, in doing so, tripping up over it, and couldn't help smiling to himself; making his already beautiful, glistening blue eyes sparkle even more in the sunlight. Though he was young, Quasimodo was very intelligent and understood things most men much older than him had not, just from watching the streets every single day.

After leaning against the balcony for a few minutes and seeing what the citizens of Paris were up to this morning, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"I think it's my birthday today," he whispered to one of the stone gargoyles positioned next to him on the balcony wall.

Quasimodo never knew for sure, as Frollo had never celebrated or even mentioned his birthdays but Quasi had been vaguely keeping track since he could remember of the days he reckoned Frollo had taken him in.

He then sighed bitterly and decided to limp back to the dark tower to finish off the miniature carving of the baker he had begun rather than even care to think that he had spent yet another year alone up in the bell tower.

Carving miniature people and buildings, representing the real life forms he watched daily, entertained Quasimodo for a long time and so added to the short list of things, like ringing the bells, which made his days up in the tower more endurable.

He had only mastered the art of wood carving a few years ago after finding scraps of wood scattered around the bell tower and was becoming really good at it but he'd only managed to make only a few people, as he had tried countless times before but they had always turned out wrong and so he had to start again. Anyone would have said his previous attempts at miniature people were really good but Quasimodo wanted them to look absolutely perfect to illustrate just how perfect the appearances of the real citizens of Paris were. He now had a table full of the few miniature carved people he had made, along with a few buildings he had placed around them.

Quasimodo brought forward a small stall and sat at his little table and finished off the carving of the baker he had started yesterday.

He was just about to paint the carving with the few paints he owned after he had finished examining it carefully for any imperfections when what resembled thunder hit his ears, making him jump and drop the carving which made it bounce on the hard wooden floor and break into two pieces.

"Good morning, Quasimodo," came the thundery voice of Jude Claude Frollo.

Quasimodo shot up out of his stool and turned around abruptly to greet his master. He was shaking slightly from fear as he always had done whenever Frollo was around.

"Oh, good m-morning, m-master," uttered Quasimodo, bowing his head as a sign of respect.

Frollo brushed past Quasimodo, making the hairs on Quasimodo's neck stand up, and picked up Quasi's finished carving of the baker, now in two pieces, and examined it.

"Oh dear, this one looked promising," he glanced at Quasimodo for a moment who stood where he was, frozen, "Oh well, you will have plenty of time to start all over again." And with a sneer, Frollo dropped the pieces of the wooden carving on the floor again.

He then went and sat down at Quasimodo's table and brought out a gold-rimmed Bible.

"Now, I would like to go through some verses this morning," said Frollo whilst gesturing for Quasi to sit down too on another stall he had made.

"Oh... of course m-master," Quasimodo replied as he sat down, still shaking slightly.

After what seemed like the entire morning _and_ afternoon, Frollo finally slammed the Bible shut, signalling that Quasimodo was done for the day. He then brought out a small straw basket and produced a bunch of grapes which he placed in front of Quasimodo who eyed the grapes but looked up at Frollo for permission to eat them.

"You did well, boy, you deserve your breakfast this morning," spoke Frollo as Quasimodo thanked him and tucked in, stuffing several grapes in his mouth at once from being so hungry having not eaten since breakfast the day before.

The rest of the meal was silent. Quasimodo, as ever, felt unbelievably small and insignificant around Frollo who, all the while, was shooting glances of disgust and almost hate at him who shrank down in his chair and dropped his head towards the grapes to avoid his glare.

At long last, Frollo got up from the stall and made his way towards the stairs that led to the door of the bell tower which only Frollo could lock and unlock.

"Good day Quasimodo," was all he said as the boy, also getting up, bowed his head again and watched as his master glided to the door, unlocked it, and disappeared behind it, leaving Quasimodo alone again with nothing but the familiar sound of Frollo locking the door once again. It is this particular sound that sums up Quasimodo's entire life perfectly.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Eurrgh, Frollo gives me the creeps :S Poor Quasi, I love him so much!


	6. Chapter 6 Festival

**Chapter 6- Festival**

It was still very early morning when Jocelyna was just beginning to awaken from a particularly nasty dream she'd had when she realised what day it was.

She was now 37 years old and, admittedly, her memory was getting a little worse so it took her slightly longer to recognise her son's birthdays but today she knew what day it was immediately- it was Rhayeder's 20th birthday.

A smile suddenly crept across her face, as she sat up instantly and made her annual crawl to the place she kept her palette knife and began, as she did every year, crossing off the number '19' and scratched next to it a number '20'.

She really couldn't believe that he was already 20 years old, no longer a baby, nor a child but a young man. The image of her running away from Frollo twenty years ago was now beginning to fade but she couldn't care less since she never wanted to remember that dreadful night in the first place.

Every birthday, Jocelyna, after making her yearly additions to the wall of her sleeping wagon, lay back down on her blankets and tried to picture how being another year older had changed him. Today, being 20 years old, she thought he must be quite tall, the size of any normal man perhaps, though she knew his red hair wouldn't have changed, his pale skin, nor his unfortunate appearance, which she had always loved about him anyway.

After dwelling in deep thought for a while, Jocelyna decided to get up and, like every morning, make her way to the 'washing' area to start the brand new day.

Once cleaned, she headed back to her wagon where she spotted Clopin who, as usual, was dancing about in his elf-like shoes that jingled whenever he moved due to the little bells sewed onto the fronts.

"_Bon matin, mon cherie_!" sang Clopin which Jocelyna returned with a warm smile and a cheery, "good morning".

Clopin had stopped dancing when Jocelyna reached the wagon and stood with his gloved hands behind his back, very solemnly.

"Do you know what day it is in 10 days, _mon cherie_?" he asked as Jocelyna sat down to brush her thick black hair. Though she knew the answer, she shook her head to give Clopin the satisfaction of, like every year, announcing what it was.

"Why it's the FESTIVAL OF FOOOOOLS!" exclaimed Clopin which he emphasised by standing on tip toes and bringing his arms above his head.

The Feast of Fools happened every year in Paris and was something Jocelyna, like any other gypsy, very much looked forward to. It was the one time a year when the gypsies would throw an enormous party for all the citizens of Paris. It was the one time a year when gypsies could actually 'come out of hiding' and be themselves around the other Paris folk without being ridiculed or scorned.

Jocelyna loved it every year, as Clopin, usually the organiser, made the festival absolutely crazy with everything being 'topsy turvy'. Dogs would walk owners, lobsters would boil chefs, instruments would play people, clowns would be kings and kings would be clowns.

Jocelyna also loved the festival, as she was able to use her choreography skills to teach the dancers who would then dance at the festival. Jocelyna did used to dance at the festival but she now preferred to teach the younger gypsy women her dance routines- they were always seductive. She hoped this year would be no exception.

Her wish was answered when Clopin proclaimed, "Right! So, you'll be teaching this year's dancer your sexy dance routines. I've given you Esmeralda this year to teach, as she'll be performing the main dance. I thought you could teach her the dance routine you did a few years back, you know, the one where you grabbed the soldier's spear and swirled around it- verrryy sexy!" He gave a wink.

Jocelyna was over the moon that she'd be teaching none other than Esmeralda, the 25 year old gypsy who was known throughout the camp for her enchanted dancing. Jocelyna considered Esmeralda the most beautiful gypsy woman she had ever seen, with bright green eyes to match her name and beautiful, thick black hair which was usually tied back neatly with a single peach ribbon. Jocelyna recollected the sensual dance she performed at the Festival of Fools five years ago and thought the dance moves fit Esmeralda perfectly.

But before she could get into the mind of how she would teach Esmeralda her dance routine for the festival, she first had to do what she did every single year without fail on her son's birthday- visit Notre Dame and offer her rose.

After a long, hearty breakfast with the other gypsies discussing the very exciting festival coming up and after the difficult task of retrieving the rose from the field, Jocelyna threw her light navy cloak over her shoulders and drifted out of the camp, towards Notre Dame Cathedral.

Its beauty had not lessened one bit since she first laid eyes on the Cathedral twenty years ago. As ever, the stalls garnished the town square, with everything from fruit stalls to craft stalls and, again, Jocelyna couldn't help but sneak a peek at any bargains. With no success, Jocelyna made her way towards the Cathedral. It was quite a bleak morning, with the sun not nearly as high in the sky as it was the last couple of days but that didn't matter to the gypsy woman since she had her mind set on giving her rose.

Once entering the oak doors that, Jocelyna thought, seemed to recognise her just as much as she did them, the gypsy walked slowly to the 'offerings' tray which had not moved an inch in twenty years.

She drew out the rose from the pocket of her cloak and placed it ever so gently into the tray. She smiled simply, wished her son a very happy birthday, blew the rose a kiss and headed back through the oak doors once more and back to the camp, her cloak tightly wrapped around her all the way.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Jocelyna loves Quasimodo so much and he doesn't even know :-(


	7. Chapter 7 Wishing for a day out there

**Chapter 7- Wishing for a day out there**

After ringing the Cathedral's extremely heavy bells to signal morning mass, with the last note sung by the smallest bell, Sophia, the very athletic and agile young man jumped from the bell-ringing platform and onto the rope of Big Marie, manoeuvred his way down the rope and landed very skilfully on his feet on the hard wooden floor many feet below. He did this every single day.

Quasimodo then, walking uneasily as ever, made his way out onto the familiar balcony poised directly in front of his bell tower.

He gave a smile and a small sigh as he watched a flock of Jays bend round the bell tower and soar past him. He had spent twenty whole years in the bell tower of Notre Dame so little miracles like this which occurred every day caused Quasimodo's heart to give a little leap.

Though it was in fact his 20th birthday today, Quasimodo would not have been able to tell since he stopped counting when he was 15 years old, as he thought it pointless when it made no difference in his day and no change in the treatment he received from his master.

Quasimodo, now a young man, had slightly changed since a few years ago. His arms had become as broad and muscular as ever, his legs had become very toned, his voice had deepened, his hump had grown, though it did not hurt him nearly as much as it used to, and his height had slightly increased, though he still remained quite short. His clothes had changed too since he'd grown out of his old ones. Nowadays, he wore a green tunic with brown hose and navy blue shoes. Very simple. His very kind, gentle, innocent and warm-hearted nature was one of the things that had not been altered through adolescence one bit.

Quasimodo loved standing on that balcony and looking out onto the streets of beautiful Paris, as it felt like he was a part of life down below, as he could watch everything as they happened. But he knew realistically that he was far from it.

Apart from ringing the bells and carving the miniature replicas of the citizens, making his mini city on his table grow very rapidly, Quasimodo would spend his days simply leaning against the balcony wall, chin propped up on his palm, and daydream about what it would be like to actually be on the streets below with the people he so desperately wanted to be like and live among. He found it difficult picturing himself 'normal', like the Paris citizens, but it was very easy to imagine himself living down in the streets, observing the many stalls and strolling by the river Seine. But then reality hit him once again, as it always did, and he was the deformed monster of Notre Dame again, destined to spend his days hidden in the incredibly lonely bell tower forever.

Quasimodo had begun to make his way back inside the bell tower when he heard a very small 'tweet' that sounded like it had come from a small bird. He spun around and saw the bird was nested on top of the gargoyle that was perched on the balcony wall.

Quasimodo loved tending to the birds that came and went and hoped this would be no exception. Quasimodo limped up to the gargoyle and saw the bird, a small Jay, was awaking from his sleep.

"Good morning," spoke Quasimodo softly to the bird with a warm smile that followed. To his surprise, the bird merely looked up, with no apparent fear, and chirped happily in response.

"Are you hungry?" enquired Quasimodo for he wasn't sure how long ago the bird had eaten.

Without waiting for some kind of response, Quasi dashed unevenly back inside the bell tower to fetch some left over bread that he didn't finish from last night's meal. Once back out onto the balcony, he broke off tiny crumbs of the bread in his hand and placed it very gently into the bird's nest.

The bird looked down at the bread then up at Quasimodo, who gave another warm smile to encourage the bird, before pecking happily at the crumbs. Quasimodo chuckled at the tiny noises the hungry Jay was making as he ate. It was clear the bird hadn't eaten for a while.

After breaking the last of the bread and placing the small pieces into the nest, Quasimodo beamed at the bird, still eating, and walked back inside the dark bell tower.


	8. Chapter 8 Preparation

**Chapter 8- Preparation**

Today was the 6th January, the morning of the momentous annual Festival of Fools and the camp was buzzing with everyone's excitement.

Like every year, Jocelyna was going to travel with the other gypsies to the town square in order to set up the festival which took place that afternoon. With only a morning to set up what every gypsy had been preparing and perfecting, as one can imagine, made the mood in the Court of Miracles very manic.

Jocelyna had spent the last ten days teaching the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda her sensual dance routine in which Esmeralda would perform on stage at the Festival. Jocelyna even made Esmeralda's dress for the dance- figure-hugging and a lovely shade of red with hints of purple on the straps. Jocelyna was very pleased with it.

In the early morning, Jocelyna, along with the other gypsies, headed to the city's town square along with about a dozen wagons carrying everything for the festival- from costumes and masks to bunting, pieces of wood for the stages, material for the tents and confetti. Thankfully there were some wooden tables and benches already at the town square.

To the relief of the gypsies, the day was promising to be a warm one, as the sun was already pretty high in the sky when they had unloaded the wagons.

Everyone was busy since they were all individually assigned different jobs- sorting out the costumes and masks, putting up the stages and tents, making the confetti and organising the places where the tables, chairs and stalls would go. Jocelyna was among the groups sorting out the costumes, including Esmeralda's dress she'd made and putting up the tents. Everything was going smoothly for the gypsies and Jocelyna had a feeling that this year's festival would be the best one yet.

Jocelyna was just finishing pegging down an orange and peach tent when she overheard two male gypsies, also pegging down the tent, talking to each other in quite sombre tones. She couldn't help but listen due to her natural curiosity of things plus she was getting quite bored continuously pegging and needed a form of entertainment.

"Hey, have you heard the stories?" asked a slightly plump male gypsy.

"No, what? What about?" responded another male gypsy, shorter than the plump gypsy and much thinner.

Jocelyna stopped pegging the tent and craned her neck to the right to hear the conversation better; she was very interested at this point.

The plump gypsy answered, leaning towards the other gypsy, "well, I hear there's a monster livin' in the bell tower of Notre Dame." With this, Jocelyna's eyes widened and gave a slight gasp. "Yeah, he rings the bells."

The thinner gypsy must have gestured something to then make the plump gypsy proclaim, "Well, how do you think the bells ring? By themselves? Nah, the demon of Notre Dame rings 'em."

Jocelyna heard the thinner gypsy gasp, "But how do you know it's a demon?"

The plump gypsy bent low to the shorter male, making Jocelyna crane her neck more to listen, and replied very solemnly, "why else do you fink he'd live by 'imself in that dark tower? No one normal would do that now, would they? There's gotta be somefin wrong wiv him, don't there?"

Jocelyna felt absolutely disgusted and repulsed by how they were talking about Rhayeder. A demon? A monster?

Jocelyna's stomach gave a horrible lurch and she began to feel very sick. But there wasn't time to recover since the festival was only a few hours away and there was still plenty needing to be done. She tried to get that conversation out of her head as much as possible as she attended to the other duties needing to be done for the festival.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Poor Jocelyna :'(

The next chapter will be in Quasi's POV and slightly based on the beginning of the Disney version


	9. Chapter 9 Isolated

**Chapter 9- Isolated**

Quasimodo sat glumly at his table. It was now an exact replica of the entire city, as he had now made many miniature buildings, even Notre Dame Cathedral, and many miniature people to the point that Quasi found little room to put anything else on.

Quasimodo was not one to sulk but today he just couldn't help it. Today was the Festival of Fools.

Quasimodo loved the festival every year and watching it from his balcony had always been the highlight of the year for him. The only problem was that he so desperately wanted to join in all the fun the festival goers appeared to have but was strictly forbidden to by his cruel master, Judge Claude Frollo. He wanted to go to the festival this year more than ever.

Quasimodo just sat at his table, half-heartedly playing with the miniature people whilst listening to the real people outside setting everything up- the tents, stages, etc. Quasimodo had even made miniature bunting for his little city in light of the festival which made it seem as though he, himself, was contributing to the work needing to be done towards the festivities.

Quasimodo did not realise just how long he'd been sitting at the table, daydreaming, when he suddenly heard the stone, cold voice of Judge Claude Frollo behind him.

"Good morning, Quasimodo," came the rich tones of Frollo's voice which never ceased to make Quasimodo's ears tingle.

The young man got up from his hunched position at the table, knocking over a few of his carvings in the process, and bowed his head. "Good m-morning, master," he timidly replied.

Quasimodo's eyes followed Frollo as he glided in his Minister's robes towards the table in the corner of the bell tower before taking that as a hint to fetch two sets of goblets and plates for breakfast.

He placed them down in each place, a tall, sterling silver goblet and matching plate for Frollo and a very worn out, wooden cup and round plank of wood for himself. This was the table setting he was always forced to use. He did not complain once.

"Shall we review your alphabet today?" asked Frollo, producing a rather large and thick navy book.

"Oh, y-yes master, I would like that very much," answered Quasimodo politely, though reciting the alphabet was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Very well, let's begin- A"

"Abomination"

"B"

"...um...blasphemy?"

"Be quicker, boy- C"

"C-c-contrition"

"D"

"Damnation"

"E"

"...um...oh, eternal damnation!"

"Good, F"

"Festival," blurted Quasimodo cheerily to which Frollo suddenly spat out the wine he had been drinking.

The judge cleaned himself up with his handkerchief and said with daggers for eyes, "excuse me?"

Quasimodo had just realised what he had blurted out and began to panic.

"F-f-forgiveness!" he corrected but Frollo knew very well of Quasimodo's intentions.

He slammed the book shut, shot up out of his chair and announced, "you said 'festival'. You are thinking of _going_ to the festival! You cannot hide, boy."

Quasimodo shrank very small in his chair and tried to avoid Frollo's piercing glare but the judge had already dashed across the table towards Quasimodo, yanked his chin up so both their eyes met and grabbed the scruff of his tunic.

"Have I not taught you _anything_, boy?!" yelled Frollo right in Quasimodo's face, making him wince. "Have you no idea why it is you're even up in this tower?!" All Quasimodo could do was stare at his master- he was paralysed with fear. "Do you have ANY idea what the people out there would do to a deformed monster like you?! How can you not understand that I am _protecting_ you from their scorns and jeers!? Why invite their calumny and consternation?! Why is it that even your own _mother_ abandoned you?! Think, boy!"

There was total silence for a minute and Quasimodo was now cowering on the floor and breathing very fast. Frollo stared fiercely at him until he eventually allowed his eyes to relax.

He composed himself and made his way to the table that held Quasimodo's beautiful carvings and studied the miniature city before proclaiming calmly, "you don't know what it's like out there, Quasimodo. In here you are safe. In here no one can hurt you."

And with that, Frollo slowly paced the floorboards towards the bell tower door, unlocked it and disappeared behind it before locking it once again, leaving Quasimodo still cowered on the floor, feeling the sting of tears in his eyes.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **

Poor Quasi, I hate how Frollo treats him :'(


	10. Chapter 10 Realisation

**Chapter 10-** **Realisation**

The morning was just beginning to break into the afternoon when the gypsies had finally finished setting up everything for the festival.

Once she finished helping decorate the main stage, Jocelyna took a look at the sight of the festival as a whole and smiled to herself, as did Esmeralda and Clopin who came and stood next to her, Clopin looking particular pleased with himself, almost smug.

It was now time for the festival to begin!

All of a sudden, multicoloured confetti flew out of nowhere, followed by large groups of people filing into the town square, ready to enjoy the festivities.

Jocelyna spotted, near the Cathedral, Clopin welcoming the guests by dancing on their heads and diving between their legs- the crowd seemed to love it.

As the crowds grew bigger and bigger, with Jocelyna realising just how many people lived in Paris, the festival was becoming more and more alive. There were acrobats flying, many people in funny costumes and propped on stilts, musicians playing over-sized instruments, jugglers and many dancers who were waving ribbons and throwing confetti at the same time, all in time to the music.

The 'topsy turvy' theme was no exception this year, Jocelyna thought, as she noticed parades of people being walked by dogs, chefs being boiled by lobsters, Krill chasing Whales and, to Jocelyna's particular amusement, a person dressed as a king who then flipped onto their hands to reveal a clown costume.

Everything was running very smoothly so Jocelyna decided to join the celebration too.

Before she knew it, she was part of a can-can line, led by Clopin of course. She lifted her legs simultaneously to the other dancers, grinning to herself, until she accidently bumped into a hooded figure which made them both fall over.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry-" she said to the hooded, cloaked figure as she got up but when she lifted her head up to check the person wasn't hurt, the figure was already sprinting towards a nearby tent. Jocelyna raised an eyebrow but got easily distracted when she spotted a charcoal gray carriage being wheeled through the square, causing people to immediately leap aside.

She recognised that carriage instantly and who would be inside it.

She then saw the carriage door open, followed by a tall man with a bony horse-shaped face with dirty white hair and dressed in very dark robes. It was Judge Claude Frollo.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to see her since she blended in with the crowd, Jocelyna scowled at the Minister, making her eyes darken almost as much as his. Then, suddenly, she felt red hot anger burn her insides. She never knew she could be this angry just by looking at someone.

She watched as he strutted towards a throne-like chair under a canopy lined with blue velvet curtains, sit down and grimace at the crazy sight before him. Jocelyna wondered why he was even here if he hated the Festival of Fools so much but she then realised that, being minister, this was most likely part of his duties- to 'connect' with the citizens.

Jocelyna wasn't going to let that monster ruin her fun so she continued wondering about the town square, viewing various stalls and joining in with the waltz that took place in the centre of the square.

She was conscious of the time and knew she would soon have to head to the main stage where she would support and, if needed, guide Esmeralda as she danced Jocelyna's routine.

All of a sudden, as she had just curtseyed to her partner after waltzing with him, Jocelyna heard Clopin's recognisable, energetic voice announce from the main stage, "Come one, come all! Ladies and gentleman, see the finest girl in France-"Jocelyna heard no more as she dashed from the centre of the square and race to the main stage.

Luckily, Jocelyna managed to secure a place at the front which she was very pleased about, as she could then be spotted easily by Esmeralda if, on the off chance, she did need some help along the way.

Jocelyna was craning her neck to see the many people now starting towards the stage when she spotted that hooded figure she accidently bumped into earlier a few places next to her, also at the front. She was just about to try to get his attention to apologise properly when Clopin's voice sounded from the stage again.

"Dance La Esmeraldaaaaa, DANCE!"

A puff of pink smoke swiftly filled the stage followed by Esmeralda in the beautiful dress Jocelyna had made. Jocelyna beamed- she knew it would look absolutely gorgeous on her.

With the first note of the violin, Esmeralda began the dance.

The men in the crowd began clapping along and whistling as the gypsy did a forward walkover. Jocelyna couldn't help laughing at the behaviour of the audience. Jocelyna clapped along with the crowd and gave her encouraging smiles every now and again. Esmeralda was doing the dance perfectly and even appeared to have added a few more moves. The gypsy then did a cartwheel and landed in the splits, winking at Jocelyna with which Jocelyna winked back.

The gypsy woman held her breath for the last part of the dance which was always the trickiest. She watched as Esmeralda grabbed a spear from a nearby soldier's hand, struck it into the stage and began spinning around it before landing on the floor of the stage and nodded her head in time to the last beat of the drum. The crowd went absolutely wild as did Jocelyna who was over the moon that Esmeralda had performed the dance so beautifully and perfectly without a single error. Coins flew from members of the crowd and scattered around the gypsy, still holding the spear whilst bowing.

Then came Clopin's voice again, "hey hey! How about that! Now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the _piece de resistance_! The moment we crown the KING OF FOOLS!"

Clopin waved his arms above his head to heighten the effect and to get the audience excited but the crowd, from what Jocelyna could see, was already pretty much excited about this particular segment of the festival. To contrast, this was the part of the festival that Jocelyna absolutely despised. She thought a contest that judges who can make the ugliest face so degrading and humiliating for people. Who would find entertainment in this? But it was clear, from the crowd's growing excitement, that a contest like this _is_ entertaining. Though Jocelyna still hated it.

"So! Ugly folks, forget your shyness! You could soon be called 'your highness'!" Clopin sang as contestants were being pulled up on the stage, wearing masks resembling animals.

Jocelyna then spotted Esmeralda pulling up the hooded, cloaked figure she accidently bumped into earlier and leading him onstage. She couldn't see what kind of mask the cloaked figure was wearing since his face was covered but she would soon find out.

She spent a few minutes just staring at the strange person onstage in front of her, studying him and his odd behaviour. He hadn't shown his mask once but, instead, kept it hidden under his cloak which Jocelyna thought very peculiar since all the other contestants were wearing their masks proudly.

The competition had begun. One by one, each contestant had their mask pulled off by Esmeralda and pulled the ugliest face they could once their face was revealed. The crowd booed in response. In fact, the crowd booed for most of the contestants after their masks were pulled off, as they just weren't ugly enough.

Having pulled the rest of the contestants' masks off whilst Clopin booted them off the stage after the crowd's judgement, Esmeralda made her way towards the hooded figure, reached for his hood and drew back.

The crowd gasped at the sight of the hideous mask the cloaked figure was wearing. But Jocelyna was too stunned to gasp, not from the mask but by the realisation of exactly who it was onstage. She was paralysed with utter shock and disbelief. She couldn't even speak to tell Esmeralda the truth so Esmeralda unknowingly made her way to grab at the 'mask' to pull it off. But it didn't come off.

Gasps, shrieks and whispers were heard from the shocked crowd along with proclaims of, "that's no mask!", "It's his _face_!", "he's _hideous_!", "don't look into his eyes!"

Jocelyna watched as Esmeralda and Clopin sprinted off the stage, leaving the no longer hooded man, now breathing fast with fear and panic, completely alone.

Jocelyna just stared at him with wide eyes, unable to breathe, and with absolute incredulity. He couldn't be. He just couldn't be.

She studied the panic-stricken man on the stage. He had very red hair, pale skin, light blue eyes, a large, tetrahedron nose, a large growth covering most of his left eye and a large hump on his back which made him unable to stand up straight. She recognised every single one of those features. The only thing different about him was that his arms were incredibly broad and muscular, his legs very thick and toned and his hands a lot larger. But that did not stop her at all from recognising him instantly. It was him. It was her son. It was Rhayeder.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**

OMG! :O


	11. Chapter 11 Glory short lived

**Chapter 11- Glory Short Lived**

There was total silence as everyone in the audience just stared, agape, at the deformed man on the stage in front of them.

Jocelyna was among the open-mouthed crowd that didn't know what to do. She was still beside herself with the shock of seeing her now grown-up son on the stage just yards in front of her but was beginning to calm down and notice just how upset and devastated he looked. Seeing him like this made her stomach give a nauseating lurch.

She was just about to do something when she saw Clopin bound back onstage and leap to the side of the trembling man, squatting down to his height to address him properly.

"So what's your name, son?" asked Clopin, trying to appear as relaxed as possible.

The man just stood where he was until he found a small voice inside him. "Q-quasimodo," was all the frightened young man could manage.

Jocelyna made a face at the sound of the name. _Who on earth would give someone such a cruel name?_ But Jocelyna didn't need to think anymore when the image of the bony-faced, button-eyed man came into her head. Of course, it was the cruel minister of Justice, Frollo. This then reminded her that Frollo was, in fact, here at the festival. She whipped her head round to find Frollo sitting importantly in his throne-like chair not too far from the stage, wearing an incredibly angry look in the direction of Quasimodo.

Shivering slightly from fury and outrage of the intention, Jocelyna was then reminded that Frollo had wanted to lock her son away in the bell tower. This explained the fuming look Frollo was continuing to give Quasimodo. Jocelyna whisked her head back once more as Clopin continued.

"Marvellous! Well Quasimodo, today's your lucky day!" Quasimodo looked up for the first time at Clopin, confused. The crowd also bemused.

Clopin now addressed his audience. "Ladies and gentleman, we have asked for the ugliest face in Paris and here he is! Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame!" he announced with his arms above his head for effect before placing a fool's crown on Quasimodo's head, to which the crowd, after taking it all in, suddenly burst into applause and cheers.

Jocelyna, having also just taken everything in, was suddenly able to breathe again from being so relieved that everything was alright now for her son.

The crowd was now carrying Quasimodo through the square. This made Jocelyna so happy. They have accepted him. She was so pleased that the crowd welcomed Quasimodo that she didn't even care of the vulgar title the crowd had given him.

She decided to catch up with the crowd who were now leading Quasimodo to another stage that was a lot smaller than the main one.

As she managed to press through the crowd to get to the front in order to see her son better, she spotted Clopin, who'd appeared from nowhere, now dressing Quasimodo in a red velvet cape and handing him the fool's sceptre. She remembered this ritual for the king from last year's festival as well as the previous years.

Jocelyna noticed that Quasimodo looked extremely happy. She even saw tears spilling from his eyes. This made Jocelyna give a little cry of delight as she, too, felt a few tears forming in her eyes. Only a mother can explain what it feels like to see your child so enormously happy and joyful. The gypsy woman's cheeks began to ache from smiling so much.

The crowd continued to cheer and applaud Quasimodo, now being pushed by Clopin onto a wooden turntable that was fastened onto the platform. Jocelyna never understood why that turntable, usually used to publically humiliate criminals, was on that platform. But Jocelyna didn't put another thought into it when she, again, caught sight of Quasimodo beaming and throwing his arms out to the cheering crowd.

Confetti then showered the platform, landing on a few members of the audience, including Jocelyna. She still couldn't stop beaming at her son. She could tell that this was the best day of his life.

But the best day of Quasimodo's life was about to get completely ruined.

Jocelyna was chanting Quasimodo's name along with the crowd when she heard a soldier only a few yards away from her say to another soldier next him, "good God, he's ugly."

The other soldier maliciously replied, "Oh yeah? You think he's ugly now? Just watch this!"

She then noticed he had what looked like a rotten tomato in his hand. Her eyes then widened with horror at the realisation of the soldier's intentions. But before Jocelyna could stop it, the soldier had already thrown the rotten tomato towards the platform, hitting Quasimodo square in the face.

"Now that's ugly!" shouted the tomato-throwing solider, pointing at the remains of the rotten tomato now dripping down the young man's face. The soldier next to him began to laugh loudly at the sight.

Quasimodo gently touched his face to see what had hit him. When seeing it was a rotten tomato, he began to breathe faster, looking out to the crowd, confused and very frightened. The crowd around him gasped, including Jocelyna who was beside herself how incredibly awful she felt for him.

But the guards weren't through with him yet, as another soldier shouted mockingly, "hail to the king!" before also chucking a rotten tomato at Quasimodo's face.

More guards followed suit, throwing a mixture of rotten tomatoes, carrots and cabbages at the terrified young man. Quasimodo tried to dodge the array of produce pelting him but slipped on a tomato that had been lying on the floor of the turntable, causing him to land with a deafening thud on his back. At this, Jocelyna covered her mouth with her hands, feeling so embarrassed for him.

She began to notice that the rest of the crowd were now laughing at this humiliation and throwing produce of their own.

A member of the crowd then yelled at Quasimodo, "where ya goin', hunchback? The fun's just beginning!" before lassoing Quasimodo, who tried to escape a second time, and snagged him by the neck, choking the man and making him fall onto his side. A second member of the crowd also used rope to pin down Quasimodo's wrist.

Unexpectedly to the crowd, Quasimodo suddenly roared angrily and began to yank the ropes out of the crowd members' hands, causing his shirt to rip along the back as he did.

Now seeing her son angry and exposed like that, Jocelyna couldn't take it anymore and ran towards the foot of the stairs of the platform. But just as she was about to climb it, she felt two arms grab at her waist and pull her away from the stairs and into a tight hold.

"What do you think you're doing?" the person holding her sneered as she tried desperately to release herself but his grasp on her was too tight. All she could do was watch as dozens of ropes were now flying towards the platform and yanking Quasimodo down onto the turntable. Two men then leapt onto the platform, yanked his hands behind his back and finished the knots of the ropes that bound Quasimodo. They then began spinning the turntable really fast whilst the crowd members still continued to pelt the helpless man with produce.

Jocelyna was trying not to look as she continually tried to force her way out of the tight hold of the crowd member when her son's frightened voice sounded in her ears.

"MASTER! Master, please! HELP ME!" was all she heard which then made her turn her head towards Frollo, after figuring out who he must be talking to, to see him still seated in his chair and giving the same fuming look she saw him give Quasimodo only moments earlier. She was absolutely furious.

That did it.

Jocelyna turned around to face the crowd member, still tightly holding her back from the platform stairs, and punched him incredibly hard in the face. His hands released from her waist instantly as he keeled over onto the floor; setting Jocelyna free and already sprinting as fast as she could up the stairs and onto the platform.

The pelting immediately stopped as all members of the crowd stared at her as she walked slowly towards her son who, unknowingly but for the first time in twenty years, gazed at his mother.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**

That was a pretty horrible part to write. I always hated that bit in the film :'(


	12. Chapter 12 Justice

**Chapter 12- Justice**

Jocelyna knew she would never be able to get that horrible image of her son bound to that wheel, covered in filth out of her head after today.

She continued to just creep slowly towards him, shaking a little from the emotion that began to sweep over her.

Once she reached the wheel, she took one glance at her poor son, who still continued to stare weakly at her, before untying the sash around her waist and kneeling down to gently wipe as much tomato from his face as she could. At first, the young man flinched but Jocelyna gave him a warm smile which then made him less resilient to her touch.

Being so close to him made her notice his eyes. Even as a baby, Jocelyna thought her son's bright, clear blue eyes were absolutely beautiful and looking into them now, twenty years on, she found them even more beautiful. Definitely the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen.

She persisted in lightly wiping off the smears of tomato from his face until she heard a voice. _The_ voice. The same cold voice that haunted her constantly ever since that night all those years ago.

"YOU! Gypsy! Get down from there at _once_!" yelled the stone voice of Claude Frollo.

Jocelyna turned around abruptly so she could confront him properly. "No, I will _not_!" she screamed back.

Beside himself with red hot anger now, Frollo replied with one finger pointing at her with his famous fuming look, "How DARE you defy me!"

But Jocelyna completely ignored him and continued. "You speak of justice yet you mistreat and abuse this poor boor _and_ my people!" Jocelyna stood on the platform assertively, with Quasimodo giving a small gasp from behind her.

From his distance in the crowd, Frollo bellowed, "SILENCE!" to which Jocelyna retorted, "JUSTICE!" She heard the crowd whisper nervously below her.

The gypsy wanted to get Quasimodo out of his humiliation as soon as possible so she turned around again to face Quasimodo, pulled out a small knife from a strap on her leg and, with one swift motion, cut the ropes that bound him. He was free. She then helped her son carefully onto his feet and, once he was sturdy, looked Quasimodo into his tear-filled eyes and smiled at him again. Quasimodo gave her an appreciative look back.

But Frollo was beyond angry at the gypsy woman's defiance. "Mark my words, gypsy. You will pay for your insolence," he spat.

The gypsy merely raised an eyebrow at the judge and responded calmly, "Oh I hardly think so, _your honour_."

And with that, she raised her right arm high above her head and, as it landed, there came a thunderous BANG as pink smoke rapidly filled the platform. As the smoke began to separate, the gypsy woman had already disappeared.

The judge, incredibly angry, ordered the guards scattered in front of him to look for the gypsy and arrest her for payment for her defiance before, too, mounting his black stallion to join the search party. It was clear that the festival was over.

After mounting his horse, Frollo turned to face Quasimodo, still covered in produce, and stared angrily at him for his own defiance of his orders.

He then rode over to the young man now alone on the platform and gave him yet another fierce glare. Quasimodo bowed his head very low, his eyes floating briefly over his exposed body.

After trying to cover himself up as much as possible, Quasimodo whispered miserably, "I'm sorry master. I will never disobey you again."

He couldn't hold back the tears any longer so the young man's cheeks were now streaming with tears as he jumped down from the platform, into the parting crowd and made his way back to the Cathedral, all the way covering his face as best as he could.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

:'(

Poor Quasi :-(


	13. Chapter 13 Reunited

**Chapter 13- Reunited**

Jocelyna would never forgive herself for leaving Quasimodo alone on the platform like that but she knew Quasimodo and herself would be in even more trouble if she had stayed with him.

It was now pouring with rain and all the gypsies were hastily packing up the pieces of equipment, tents and bunting that had been used for the festival. Frollo's soldiers marching around them in search for Jocelyna.

She wanted to help her gypsy friends but the gypsy woman knew she couldn't risk getting caught. She was now a fugitive. She had headed to Notre Dame Cathedral when making her escape from Frollo so the Jocelyna had spent the last hour sitting on a pew, going over the day's events in her head. She had sanctuary in the Cathedral so she knew she was safe from being caught by Frollo or his guards.

The gypsy woman couldn't believe Frollo had not recognised her from twenty years ago as the same gypsy who defied his orders then too. But she knew how long ago it was so Frollo may have forgotten what she looked like. She only remembered Frollo so well, many years on, from his distinctive black button eyes and unmistakable narrow, horse-shaped face.

Jocelyna also couldn't believe that she had met her son today after those very long and painful twenty years. Of course, she knew he would look completely different from the baby she so well remembered but it still came as a surprise seeing her son as a grown-up.

What she always knew was that his distinctive appearance wouldn't have changed over the course of twenty years and she was right after seeing him at the festival- the nose, the growth over his left eye and the hump on his back. But his extremely broad and muscular arms were something Jocelyna was not expecting and was not prepared for. Though she knew Quasimodo would be the bell ringer, she somehow never thought that, of course, he would be pretty strong with muscular arms as a result.

His new name was another thing that ran through her mind numerous times whilst sitting on that pew. Quasimodo. Qua-si-mo-do. Just hearing its awful sound made her cringe but its meaning was something that made her blood boil with raw anger. 'Half-formed'. But was she really expecting Frollo to give her son a _nice_ name, a decent name that didn't reflect his deformity? Of course not but it still hurt her that he'd lived with that revolting name for all his lonely life.

Jocelyna had spent several minutes subconsciously looking up at the ceiling, picturing her son in the bell tower only metres above her, like she did every year on his birthday during her visits to the Cathedral. Then a thought suddenly dawned on her. She couldn't. She desperately wanted to visit her son in that bell tower, if anything, to make sure he was alright after the terrible incident earlier, but she knew the archdeacon had forbidden her not to due to Frollo's orders. But she had absolutely no respect whatsoever for that foul, beastly man. That was enough to convince her.

So, without a second thought, Jocelyna got off the pew and headed straight for the eave in the Cathedral wall that led up to the bell tower. She had passed that little eave in the wall every year on her trips to the Cathedral but, until now, had never even dared to go as far as putting her foot on the first step. But instead of feeling discomfort and anxiety as she approached the eave, she, to her great surprise, felt strangely calm- like she was supposed to do this.

She gingerly put one foot on the first step, as though expecting it to explode at her touch, but grew all of a sudden very confident and began ascending the twisting staircase at once.

It was very dark so Jocelyna had to be very careful with her footing but, at long last, she was greeted by the sound of the rain as she approached the last step which led her out into the open and on flat land again.

She found herself standing on a long balcony outside. She walked cautiously across it and briefly peered over the side. Her heart gave a dreadful leap as she realised just how unbelievably high up she was. After giving herself a minute to calm down, she placed both hands on the concrete balcony wall and brought herself to look out once again; observing the spectacular view of Paris from that great height. She wished she could stay up there forever. Jocelyna stayed in that position for several minutes, with her chin propped up on her palm, sighing occasionally. She would have stayed there longer had she not spotted, out the corner of her eye, slight movement from within the bell tower metres next to her which made her remember her initial motive.

She continued to walk along the balcony until she got to the small bell tower door. To her dismay, she found it was locked. This didn't stop her from seeing her son one bit. She picked up a nearby gargoyle and, using all her strength, bashed the lock with its stone wing which broke the lock instantly. The door subsequently swung open as though being pulled from the inside. After smiling to herself, she walked in.

Just like the staircase, the tower was very dark with the small gaps in between the sideboards being the only source of light. A shiver crept over the gypsy as she walked through the cold bell tower, constantly prepared for anything that could spring out at her. The tower was deathly silent.

Jocelyna approached a ladder that led to a second platform and began to climb it. After reaching the second level, her eyes widened at the beautiful sight in front of her. Underneath the many beams of wood which had numerous cobwebs dangling from them, stood a table situated near the corner of the room that helped a number of wooden shapes.

As Jocelyna moved towards it, she realised that it was Paris that stood on that table. Someone had carved the entire city. There were more than a dozen miniature people standing on the table, all carved and painted entirely differently to one another. She recognised the baker and the blacksmith instantly who she always gave cheery hellos to on her occasional trip to the market and her annual trip to the Cathedral. She then noticed various buildings placed neatly around the miniature citizens- some even supporting what looked like handmade bunting. The gypsy woman bowed her head to find a carving of Notre Dame Cathedral that had been placed nearest to her. The detail was incredible. She knew exactly who had done this.

This then reminded her that he was in here. But before she began to think about looking for him, a tiny voice sounded from behind her.

"W-who are you?" came that voice which made the gypsy woman jump slightly.

Having quickly composed herself, the kind gypsy woman replied, "I'm really sorry to barge in like this but I...well I-"

But the small voice interrupted her, "y-you shouldn't be h-here."

She knew exactly whose voice this was but she couldn't pinpoint where that voice was coming from so she just continued to talk into the dark space in front of her.

"I really am very sorry, it's just I wanted to talk to you...firstly about this afternoon. I...I was the one who helped you...from...from the crowd." Jocelyna heard the voice give a tiny gasp.

Jocelyna heard what sounded like shuffling of feet followed by a very loud _thud_ which told her that he must have been very high up when she had first heard him speak. She guessed he must have now recognised her, as she began to hear faint footsteps on the hard floor that seemed to be coming towards her.

Then, from the shadows in front of her, she saw a figure emerge from the darkness and make his way slightly into the light, holding up his hands to cover his face as he edged closer. Jocelyna noticed this and frowned.

"You don't have to cover your face. There really is no need to, besides, I already know what you look like and there's absolutely nothing about you that could make me afraid." She said, softly.

The very timid bell ringer slowly and cautiously drew his hands away from his face. She smiled once she saw him. He looked exactly the same as he did at the festival earlier. He seemed to have changed his shirt since he was now back to wearing a clean, green tunic which was identical to the one he wore before that horrible incident in which his tunic had severely ripped and was beyond repair. This then made her notice that his hair and skin were no longer covered in produce like they had been earlier but were now completely clean.

Jocelyna felt she should speak, though she was beginning to feel quite nervous, since the young man in front of her looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Well... I just wanted to see if you were alright after what happened at the festival, I... I really felt awful for you."

The young man just stared at her, clearly shocked by the kindness of the gypsy woman. This made Jocelyna realise that kind treatment was not what the man was used to.

"T-thank you. Y-yes, I...I r-remember you," was all the man simply said, to which Jocelyna beamed at him. She was beginning to really like the sound of her son's voice. It was very sweet and soothing to hear. Quasimodo, oblivious to the gypsy's admiration of him, now looked very embarrassed on top of feeling extremely frightened.

What came next was total silence in which both Quasimodo and Jocelyna felt incredibly nervous- Jocelyna from the emotion of meeting her son properly after all these years and Quasimodo from fear of the fact that he was in the presence of a human being that wasn't Frollo.

The bell ringer's frightened expression never changed even when Jocelyna tried to make herself look as gentle as possible to show that she wasn't going to hurt him. She desperately wanted to just blurt out to him that she was his mother, like she had imagined doing many, many times before, but actually doing it was a lot harder than merely imagining yourself doing it. She decided to get Quasimodo as close to comfortable as possible first before telling him what she so very badly wanted to tell him.

"I very much admire your beautiful carvings," spoke Jocelyna at last, pointing behind her at the table in the corner. The young man gave a slight smile, clearly still suspicious of this unusual kindness. However, having remembered that this woman was the one who had rescued him from the jeering crowd, his barrier began to fall.

"T-thank you. I, well, only made a few," he quietly replied.

Jocelyna's eyebrow rose at the young man's extreme modesty but then smiled at how obviously pleased he looked with himself.

"I recognise these two- the baker and the blacksmith! I must say, the detail is just amazing." Jocelyna began to pick the carving of the baker up when she suddenly heard feet coming towards her abruptly.

"N-no please! Don't! I-I-I'm not finished yet, I-I still have to paint them." Quasimodo had come to be right next to the gypsy. Jocelyna put the carving swiftly down and turned to look Quasimodo straight in the eye- the shy bell ringer winced a little at this.

"Quasimodo, these are amazing- painted or not. You have a real gift." Jocelyna hated using that name but she had to so as not to confuse Quasimodo since, after all, he did recognise it as his name.

Jocelyna began to pace the floorboards, continuing to show how relaxed she was around him in order to make him feel relaxed to. "So! You're the bell ringer, huh?" Quasimodo gave a faint nod. "Well, I've always adored hearing these bells. They're just so beautiful. You make them sound beautiful."

Quasimodo blushed slightly before enquiring, "w-would you... l-like to see them?"

Jocelyna gave Quasimodo very enthusiastic nods and followed him as he climbed a tall ladder that led onto the bell ringing platform high above.

The sight of those many gorgeous bells hanging in front of her left Jocelyna completely speechless. It was, of course, absolutely incredible hearing them but _seeing_ them was an entirely new experience in itself.

Jocelyna, from her natural motherly instincts, gasped loudly at the sight of Quasimodo now jumping, seemingly effortlessly, from bell to bell with nothing but a 100 ft drop beneath him. He landed on the smallest looking bell in the far corner of the tower.

"This one's little Sophia," announced Quasimodo proudly from the long distance. He then jumped across the ropes of three more bells, shouting the name of the bell of which he landed on. "These are Jean-Marie, Anne-Marie and...Louise-Marie. Triplets you know," spoke Quasimodo to Jocelyna who was still shivering from seeing her son jump so carelessly about the bells situated so high up the tower.

Quasimodo announced the names of many more bells, Jocelyna responding with exclaims of interest and fascination, until he finally leapt from the nearest bell and onto his feet on the bell ringing platform once again. Jocelyna was now able to relax and breathe easy.

"Quasimodo, they're incredible. Every single bell is totally different to the next." Quasimodo stared, slightly open-mouthed, at the gypsy woman. He was amazed that she, too, could notice just how unique each bell was. Not many people at all, other than Quasimodo, would have been able to notice this. And, for the first time since finding Jocelyna in his bell tower, the bell ringer beamed at the gypsy woman. No longer did the shy young man feel uneasy around the gypsy. He was now beginning to realise that Jocelyna really was the kindest person he had ever met.

The two just stood where they were on the high bell ringing platform, admiring the bells before them.

"W-what is y-your name?" enquired the bell ringer after plucking enough courage to ask her. The gypsy turned her head from the bells and to the young man next to her.

"It's Jocelyna," she said softly with yet another warm smile. The man smiled back at the beautiful sound of her exotic name.

"Do you know what it m-means?"

Jocelyna thought for a second before replying, "No, I don't actually. It never really occurred to me to ever find out." The gypsy wanted to be polite and return the question but she already knew what her son's new name meant and didn't want him to repeat it, as she didn't want him to feel even smaller than he already appeared to feel because of it.

So, Jocelyna and Quasimodo just stood still, once again, gazing at the beautiful sight in front of them. Quasimodo broke the long silence by asking if he could show her one more thing. After agreeing with another enthusiastic not, Jocelyna followed Quasimodo to yet another tall ladder which appeared to lead out of the bell tower.

Once she reached the top of the ladder, with Quasimodo helping her over the last step which she found tricky to accomplish on her own, the gypsy found she was outside and standing on a small terrace. The bell ringer then led her to the side of the terrace in which stood a small wall just like the balcony wall directly below them.

Jocelyna gave a loud gasp once she approached the edge and saw the sight in front of her. The view of Paris was even better than the view she'd stared at from the balcony further down. It had thankfully stopped raining so the sky was now a beautiful shade of pink with a few strokes of purple which was illuminated by the setting sun. Apart from her son, it was the most beautiful thing Jocelyna had ever seen. Quasimodo, who was standing unevenly beside her, noticed her astonished face and couldn't help giving a joyful chuckle.

"I knew you'd like it," spoke Quasimodo cheerfully in between his chuckles.

Quasimodo and Jocelyna spent the rest of the early evening just sitting outside on the terrace and talking. Quasimodo was growing more and more confident around the gentle gypsy woman and his stammer was becoming much less frequent each time he talked.

After hearing the incredibly intelligent things the bell ringer was saying, Jocelyna realised how amazing her son was as a person. She, of course, never before was able to get to know Quasimodo until now and, after spending some time listening to everything he said, she concluded that he was extremely intelligent and an exceedingly sweet, kind and gentle young man. She was very, very proud of him. She was astonished how someone who'd grown up in such a diminutive space could know and understand so much. What also astounded her, maybe even more so, was how being raised by such a despicable, cold-blooded, vindictive man had no impact whatsoever on his warm heart and good nature.

The sky was now completely dark when Quasimodo told Jocelyna miserably that his master, Frollo would be visiting him very soon and that she'd have to leave in order to not get caught. The mention of his master suddenly made Jocelyna remember of her initial intentions but she had been having such an amazing time learning so much about her son that she had completely forgotten. But she knew now wouldn't have been a good time to tell him anyway.

So, after a pretty swift farewell as to lessen the chance of Jocelyna running into Frollo and getting arrested, the gypsy made her way down the ladder and back into the dark bell tower. She made her way down the last flight of stairs which led to the bottom of the tower and let herself out, with Quasimodo tailing after her to make sure she got out alright.

She paused to briefly inspect the damaged lock on the bell tower door but saw there was nothing she could do to fix it quickly before getting caught by Frollo. So, instead, Jocelyna just left it in its broken state and dashed back across the balcony, down the dark staircase, into the main bit of the Cathedral, grabbed her light navy cloak from the pew she had been sitting on hours ago, pulled it on over herself so as to not be seen and sprinted out onto the town square and onto land again.

She did not looking back once as she hastily made the short journey to the Court of Miracles, telling herself continually that tonight will not be the last time she will see her son.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Quasimodo has noooooo idea whatsoever!


	14. Chapter 14 Punishment

**Chapter 14- Punishment**

Quasimodo couldn't believe it. Even going over the events in his head repetitively so that he didn't lose the memory of this evening, Quasimodo just couldn't grasp what had just happened. She had come. The kindest human being he had ever met. He was still astonished by how nicely the gypsy woman, Jocelyna, had treated him. She made no insults regarding his appearance at all; in fact, Jocelyna had even said that there was nothing about him that could make her afraid. She wasn't afraid of him.

The bell ringer couldn't stop smiling as he made his way, as he had done a million times before, up the ladder of the bell ringing platform to ring the bells for evening mass. He didn't take much care in making a melody, as his mind was too caught up in what had happened over the past few hours.

The only thing Quasimodo was conscious of that was in the present was that Frollo was late for dinner. For as long as Quasimodo could recall, Frollo had not been late once to his meals, in fact, Frollo was regularly early. But Quasimodo persisted in ringing the Cathedral's heavy bells, smiling as he continued to play back the last few hours in his head.

Quasimodo had just jumped down from the high bell ringing platform and onto the floor of the tower when the bell tower door suddenly burst open, revealing Frollo in its frame, looking very, very angry at Quasimodo. The young man had been so wrapped up in the past few wonderful hours that he completely forgot about Frollo's anger at him for disobeying his orders by sneaking off to the festival.

Quasimodo, his smile disappearing instantly, was now feeling the all too familiar emotions of fear and panic as Frollo suddenly lunged at him, shoved him against the wooden wall and grabbed him by the neck- choking the bell ringer.

"HOW _DARE_ YOU DISOBEY ME!" roared Frollo in Quasimodo's panic-stricken face, still tightly grasping his throat. "HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY THINK YOU COULD DEFY MY ORDERS! DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD JUST BREAK THAT LOCK, LEAVE THE TOWER AND GET AWAY WITH IT?!"

Tears began to well up in Quasimodo's eyes as Frollo, now red in the face, continued to glare extremely fiercely at him.

Eventually, Frollo released his firm hold on Quasimodo's neck, leaving Quasimodo now cowering on the wooden floor. The judge composed himself and glanced briefly at the bell ringer before announcing, suddenly very calm, "you are going to fix that lock and, in the meantime, I will not visit you with your meals for seven days as punishment for your insolence."

And with that, Frollo glided back through the bell tower door and slammed it shut, leaving Quasimodo on the floor in complete darkness, unable to move.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**

:(


	15. Chapter 15 Ambivalence

**Chapter 15- Ambivalence**

Jocelyna was utterly euphoric as she undid her cloak, knowing that she was safe now, and strolled through the gypsy camp. It was dinner time so the camp had filled with the beautiful smell of Ferret stew.

As Jocelyna walked through the busy camp full of hungry gypsies rushing to get food, she spotted Clopin in the crowd, no longer dressed in his special Festival of Fools outfit but in a simple purple tunic with matching purple hose. He waved enthusiastically as he noticed her and began dashing towards her.

"_Mon cherie! Mon cherie!_" he called as he strode towards her with an anxious and concerned expression. Then it struck Jocelyna as to why Clopin looked so apprehensive. She saved him the trouble of asking.

"Clopin, I'm fine, the soldiers don't have a clue where I am."

Clopin still looked troubled. "But Jocelyna, you defied the orders of Judge Claude Frollo _himself_. The Minister. You could be killed if he finds you!"

The gypsy woman now began to grow a little uneasy, the euphoric feeling now long gone, but tried to appear as cavalier as possible. "Look, I couldn't have just _left_ him up there to continue being humiliated by the crowd! You would have done the same thing, Clopin."

Jocelyna saw Clopin think for a moment before he responded, "no I wouldn't. You and I both know what that man is capable of so I wouldn't have done what you did even for someone normal."

Upon hearing this, Jocelyna got incredibly angry. "What are you saying?" the gypsy woman enquired, extremely hurt.

Unaware of the woman's hurt feelings, Clopin answered simply, "He's just not like you or I so his feelings don't matter that much."

Jocelyna was now fuming.

"What did you say?! How dare you say that! You have no idea just how 'normal' that man is. He is more 'normal' than you'll ever be!" she shouted.

Clopin looked at her, stone- faced, before declaring, "What, this guy?" as he bent his knees, hunched his right shoulder and closed his left eye, imitating Quasimodo. Jocelyna slapped Clopin hard on his cheek. He abruptly got up from doing his impression, gave Jocelyna a cold look, similar to Frollo's, and headed back into the crowd behind him without uttering another word.

Jocelyna just stood where she was, devastated at how angry she got at her closest friend. She wanted desperately to explain why it was she had become so angry but as she scanned the crowds, Clopin was nowhere to be seen. She eventually gave up and decided to go to bed without dinner.

She lay in her dark sleeping wagon, mixed emotions sweeping over her constantly. She was over the moon that she had met her son properly for the first time in twenty years and got to know just how amazing he is as a person. But she was also distraught that she had lost her closest friend.

She lay in her wagon, recollecting the events of the day and how she could perhaps break the news to Quasimodo when she saw him next, which she had promised to herself, until tiredness finally swept over her, causing her to fall into a dreamless sleep.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

I'd hate it if Clopin was my friend and we'd fallen out. He seems like such a great friend to have plus he's fun and entertaining which is always nice :-D


	16. Chapter 16 Truth

**Chapter 16- Truth**

It had been seven days since her fight with Clopin. She'd waited these seven days in order to give Clopin some space. She hadn't visited the Cathedral for five days either since she didn't want to frighten Quasimodo by coming to see him all the time, though she really, really wanted to. She knew he hadn't had any form of human contact other than Frollo so her repetitively inviting herself to the bell tower might be a bit much for him after twenty years of being almost completely alone.

Instead, Jocelyna had spent the past seven days just catching up with her friends and continuing her duties of making clothes and cooking as well as playing with the children. She never realised just how boring it was in the camp until after meeting Quasimodo which she, of course, found incredibly exciting so the comparison between the two made her wonder how on earth she had put up with doing the same things again and again for all these years in the gypsy camps.

It was just breaking into the early morning when the gypsy woman had just finished running through her head what she was going to say to Clopin as an apology. Telling Clopin the truth became a possibility, though she would have to wait for his reaction to her apology first before she could consider telling him. He was her closest and dearest friend, after all, so she felt he deserved to know.

As she did tediously every single day since arriving at the Court of Miracles, the gypsy got up from her blankets, headed to the 'washing' area, dressed herself, brushed her hair and made her way down to the main section of the camp for breakfast. It was upon walking down to the tables when she noticed the slim frame of Clopin in the breakfast que, his head way above everyone else's due to his height – making him easily noticeable.

She breathed deeply before strolling casually towards the tables, waiting for him. But, after a while, though the person who was behind him in the que was already seated with his breakfast, Clopin had not joined the tables. She spun round to see him not too far away from her, standing next to a gypsy woman who was carrying a baby, obviously trying to make conversation with her but having no success, as her full concentration was on her baby. It was clear he was avoiding her.

She leapt from her seat, now getting rather annoyed that he was _still_ angry with her, and marched right up to him and the gypsy woman.

"Listen Clopin, I'm sorry ok. I'm really, really sorry. I-I just don't know what came over me, I was...in a bad mood that day, I would have got annoyed with anyone, ok? But you don't have to _still_ be angry with me! I'm just...sorry, ok!"

Clopin stared at her along with the gypsy woman who'd finally looked up from her baby, swallowed his mouthful of pear slices, and, to Jocelyna's great surprise, _smiled_.

"_Mon cherie_, I'm not angry with you, I never was, well only for half a second when you slapped me, but you have nothing to apologise for. You've done nothing wrong." He told her, back to his cheery self.

Jocelyna raised her eyebrow at him, confused. "Ok...then why were you avoiding me?" She suddenly felt very childish saying this but she didn't care since she desperately wanted to know the answer. The gypsy woman who was standing next to Clopin had now decided to walk away.

Clopin's smile dropped. "It was because I felt incredibly guilty at mocking that guy at the festival, Quasimoto, I think his name was. I knew it had offended you. I'm the one who should be apologising for my insensitive behaviour. I just didn't know you cared about him that much."

Jocelyna didn't bother to correct Clopin with Quasimodo's name, as she was so thrilled that Clopin, all this time, was not mad at her. She returned his smile with a wide grin and flung her arms around him.

The two spent the rest of breakfast just catching up with each other and what they had been up to over the past seven days. It turns out, Clopin was just as miserable as she was.

When all the gypsies had eventually left the tables to attend to their everyday duties, leaving the two alone, it suddenly occurred to Jocelyna that now was the best time she would have in order to tell Clopin the truth. She decided she would just come out and say it.

Clopin was in mid sentence, describing which relative he got his immature and eccentric personality from, when Jocelyna interrupted him.

"Listen, you said earlier that you didn't know I cared about Quasimodo so much..." Jocelyna noticed Clopin's blank expression, "...you know, the guy at the festival?" Clopin paused for a moment then nodded in recollection; his memory had always been appalling.

The gypsy woman continued, her tone now solemn. "Well, I do care about him, in fact, I care about him very, very much, because...well... um...h-he...he's my son."

She had been looking away from him as she said this but had now glanced briefly at him for his reaction.

Clopin looked at her, taking it all in, before narrowing his eyes. "Is this a joke? Are you serious?"

Jocelyna exhaled, preparing herself to tell Clopin the long story of everything from that night twenty years ago to meeting Quasimodo in the bell tower a week ago. When Jocelyna had finally finished, Clopin's mouth hung open.

"oh...mon...dieu!" exclaimed the gypsy man at last to which Jocelyna burst out laughing.

She had finally done it.


	17. Chapter 17 Meeting again

**Chapter 17- Meeting again**

The rest of the morning went by very quickly. After swearing not to tell anyone what Jocelyna had just told him, Clopin parted ways with the gypsy woman in order to help the other gypsy men gather food from outside the camp. Jocelyna always hated the fact that the men were only allowed to get the food while the women just stayed and either cooked, cleaned the camp or made the clothes. She vowed that, before she died, she would make sure this was changed.

In the meantime, Jocelyna finally responded to the desperation inside her that had been rapidly building up these past seven days and began to make her way towards Notre Dame to visit Quasimodo. She couldn't wait.

Jocelyna was now a fugitive so she took extra care when making the short journey from the Court of Miracles to the Cathedral by covering herself completely with her light navy cloak, hunching over and using a stick to make her look like an old beggar. She was suddenly reminded of Quasimodo looking exactly like this, minus the stick, at the festival.

Jocelyna walked slowly in her disguise out the entrance of the gypsy camp, towards the busy market, across the town square and through the oak doors of the beautiful Cathedral. It had definitely felt more than a week since she had been here last, recollecting the events of the worst day of her life on the pew only centimetres in front of her.

Just like she had also done for the first ever time a week ago, Jocelyna made her way to the little eave in the wall to the right of her that led straight to the bell tower. She couldn't wait to see Quasimodo again.

Standing on the first two steps of the staircase, she could now hear the bells. This made her grin... until she began to notice that the bells sounded a lot less powerful and melodious. It was as though Quasimodo had either stopped caring or had grown too weak to ring them to his usual powerful standard. She merely shrugged her shoulders, guessing the bells must just be too distant to hear the power of them, and continued the trek.

After completing the very, very long journey up the dark staircase, she walked, though she wanted to run, across the balcony, now not the least bit afraid of the height, and got to the bell tower door.

To her complete surprise, the lock that she'd completely smashed in had been fixed. She considered smashing it with the same gargoyle, now with one wing, but thought it was Quasimodo who had repaired the lock and didn't want to give him extra work on top of having to repair the lock the first time. She simply knocked three times instead.

After a minute or two, she heard the faint sound of feet shuffling along the wooden floor on the other side of the door. No voice sounded so she thought she'd announce herself to Quasimodo who clearly had no idea that it was her since he was plainly trying to make it seem as though no one was in the tower.

"Quasimodo, it's me, Jocelyna. Are you there?" the gypsy woman spoke as gently as possible to give him no reason to be frightened more than he would be from a mysterious person knocking at his door. She waited, still hearing no sound from within the bell tower.

Suddenly, she heard the vague sound of footsteps pacing pretty fast on the floor followed by a voice. "Jocelyna!" the woman heard Quasimodo exclaim through the wooden door that only just made his voice audible.

The gypsy woman leant on the door in order to be able to hear better in case Quasimodo said anything else. Suddenly, the door swung open into the tower, causing Jocelyna to stumble and fall onto the cold floor.

"Oh my gosh, I am so, so sorry," she exclaimed to the bell ringer.

But Quasimodo, who was now rushing to carefully help Jocelyna up, only gave a sheepish smile before explaining in his usual soft voice, "the lock isn't working just at the moment. I've tried to fix it as best as I can but only Frollo has the key and as he hasn't visited here for a few days; it can't be properly locked until he can lock it from the outside."

Jocelyna now felt very guilty for mindlessly breaking his lock. After giving the bell ringer a look of gratitude once sturdy on her feet, the gypsy was now able to notice, from the light the open door allowed in, that Quasimodo looked incredibly peaky, even more pale than usual. She knew it wasn't just from the lack of sunlight, as his gorgeous, blue eyes also appeared red with bags beginning to form beneath them. He looked ill.

This explained why the bells she heard from the staircase earlier didn't sound nearly as powerful as when she heard them previously. Quasimodo had grown too weak to ring them properly. Jocelyna all of a sudden felt very nauseous from seeing him look so drained.

"Quasimodo, are you feeling alright. It's just you don't look..."

Quasimodo, looking down at the floor, hastily replied, "oh, um...I-I'm a-actually feeling fine thank you. I-I-I didn't sleep very well last night, that's all."

But Jocelyna was unconvinced. Though she had only properly known her son a few days ago without another meeting since, she still felt she could tell instantly when he was lying. This was one of those occasions.

But the woman noticed that Quasimodo looked extremely nervous and uneasy with her looking anxious and concerned for him so she changed the subject as she treaded across the tower floor.

"So, it's been a while! Life's been pretty boring, just the usual- hiding from Frollo," laughed Jocelyna with Quasimodo trying to laugh as much as he was able to. The gypsy woman noticed just how hollow the young man's laugh sounded- nothing like his wonderful laugh she had heard when she was last in his bell tower.

To further avoid Jocelyna's enquiry into his worn- out appearance, after closing the door, he asked Jocelyna to follow him upstairs which she did with enthusiastic nods- Quasimodo instinctively laughed genuinely this time from the memory of her doing the exact same thing five days ago. This time, it was just like his usual melodious laugh.

He headed towards the table in the corner of the bell tower which held the stunning replica of Paris.

"Close your eyes," Quasimodo gently said to her.

Jocelyna did as she was told with a smile on her face which got even bigger when Quasimodo had lightly placed something small into her open hands. She opened her eyes to find a wooden carving, just like the carvings on the table, of a smiling woman with black hair, tanned skin and wearing a painted white top with a dark green skirt and light green sash tied around it. It was Jocelyna.

She couldn't believe Quasimodo had taken the time to carve an exact replica of her. She was speechless, though she knew she had to try to say something since Quasimodo was anxiously standing beside the table with a worried expression on his face, clearly oblivious to how much she adored the carving.

"Q-quasi-. I...I-I...I just absolutely adore it..." she eventually said. Tears began to fill her eyes.

The young man gave a toothy grin from her reaction. "I-I couldn't not make a carving of you...y-you're very special to me," uttered the embarrassed bell ringer. Jocelyna was so delighted that she very much wanted to just fling her arms around him. She was over the moon from what she saw in her hands and what she had just heard from Quasimodo.

The bell ringer was now back to feeling totally comfortable around the woman. Jocelyna desperately wanted to talk more with Quasimodo so she requested they both sit down and continue their very long conversation seven days ago which was regrettably cut short.

The bell ringer nodded, thrilled that she still wanted to spend time with him. So, the gypsy woman placed her wooden carving very carefully on the table among the others, untied her sash and lay it down on the freezing floor.

Both loved each other's company as they sat on the floor of the bell tower and chatted away, as though they had known each other forever.

The conversation was interrupted again, however, as Quasimodo heard the bell tower door creak ever so slowly open followed by the unmistakable rich tones of Frollo's voice which filled the tower instantly.

Quasimodo and Jocelyna's eyes simultaneously widened before Quasimodo shot up from his seating position like a rocket and hastily, though trying to do it as gently as possible so as not to hurt her, pushed Jocelyna under his table, pulling down the cloth to conceal her further.

Luckily, they were just in time.


	18. Chapter 18 Trapped

**Chapter 18- Trapped**

Quasimodo had hid Jocelyna just in time to spot Frollo's minister hat bobbing up and down as he ascended the stairs onto the second level. Quasimodo found the courage to look his master in the eye whom he hadn't seen for a whole week.

"Good afternoon, Quasimodo," spoke Frollo as though his uproar with Quasimodo had never happened.

"G-good afternoon, m-master," replied the bell ringer, now feeling a mixture of apprehension from trying to keep the gypsy woman hidden and fear of not knowing what Frollo might do to him having been absolutely fuming with him only a few days ago.

Frollo walked to the table, making Quasimodo flinch at Frollo being so close to Jocelyna, and sat down at his usual seat. Quasimodo followed suit.

"Now Quasimodo, before I can allow you to eat again, I want to know that you will never disobey me again because remember Quasimodo, there will be serious consequences if you do."

The bell ringer was in an incredibly tricky situation here. He knew that allowing Jocelyna into the bell tower was defying Frollo's orders but he couldn't explain just how much he appreciated her company after years of being almost completely alone. He never wanted Jocelyna's visits to stop. Quasimodo had to lie- to save Jocelyna's life as well as to avoid further days of starvation which he just couldn't bear, or worse.

"Y-yes master, I-I promise I will never disobey you again," he told his master, slowly and quietly.

Frollo smirked at the shy bell ringer and nodded in approval. He then brought out the small straw basket he always used to carry Quasimodo's meals to the bell tower. He handed the starved young man a handful of grapes and a small chunk of bread. Quasimodo thanked his master courteously before shoving as many grapes into his mouth as he could and biting into the bread at the same time. To finally eat again was just heaven.

That afternoon consisted of Frollo, having gone back to his usual refined and civil manner, teaching the young man the rest of the lengthy Bible verses which Quasimodo had to reiterate back to him. The long and painfully boring lesson, though the bell ringer was very much used to this, had finally finished which Frollo signalled by slamming the Bible shut.

"Good day, Quasimodo," was all the ruthless judge said as he got up from his chair, Quasimodo doing the same out of respect.

But before Frollo reached the ladder that led down to the ground level, his foot landed on something that wasn't wood but what felt like fabric. He looked down sharply to find a light green sash lying limply beneath his black shoe. It was Jocelyna's sash.

He bent down to pick up the piece of fabric before turning to Quasimodo, holding it up with two fingers as though it were a spider. Quasimodo, upon seeing what it was, was paralysed with fear.

"Quasimodo. What is...this?" spoke the minister very serenely to the trembling bell ringer. But Frollo left no time for Quasimodo to respond. "I thought I told you, were you ever to disobey me again, there would be serious consequences. Am I wrong, boy?" But Frollo's question may as well have been rhetorical since, again, he continued without leaving time for Quasimodo's response. "Well then, it is clear taking away your meals for seven days hasn't kept you from disobeying me has it? But no matter, no matter, I'll just take them away... for an even longer period of time...shall we say...forever? That ought to teach you...if you live long enough that is."

Quasimodo, from his position of supporting himself against the table, desperately pleaded with a very small, shaking voice, "no, n-no please, master-"

But before the bell ringer was able to finish his sentence, Frollo suddenly dropped his previous cavalier tone and snapped, "WELL, IT SHOULD BE VERY CLEAR TO YOU TO STOP DISOBEYING ME IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE MY PUNISHMENTS, QUASIMODO! WHERE DID YOU GET THIS FROM? WHO GAVE IT TO YOU?!"

But Frollo had a sudden revelation. He knew _exactly_ who the sash belonged to. It was the gypsy woman's, the one who defied his orders- he remembered her wearing it at the festival.

After just staring at Frollo, who now had him caught by the scruff of his tunic, Quasimodo whispered, "I didn't-. No one gave it to me, master." But Frollo was too deep in thought to notice. He was just about to slap the bell ringer for associating with _her_ of all people, when he heard an unmistakable creak on the floor coming from the shadows to his right.

Frollo whipped his head round, still holding onto Quasimodo's tunic, and studied the dark area extremely carefully. He whisked his head round again.

"She's here, isn't she, Quasimodo, the woman who gave you this. The very same woman who defied me too," he spoke in an eerie and sinister tone, holding up the sash again.

He abruptly released the bell ringer's tunic and headed into the darkness, now making it impossible for the gypsy woman to escape.


	19. Chapter 19 Arrest

**Chapter 19- Arrest**

Jocelyna had just managed to tuck her knees and feet under the table when she spotted the robes of the Minister beginning to appear from under the small opening between the cloth and the floor. She sat in a ball under the table, listening intently to the stone voice of Frollo.

The 'conversation' she listened to couldn't have been a more uncomfortable one. She even noticed from her position under the table that Quasimodo's legs were shaking. She couldn't have felt worse for him.

After a long while, Frollo's shoes appeared once again as they walked to the ladder but stopped abruptly. Jocelyna didn't know why until it was too late.

She watched in horror as she saw, from the small opening in the cloth, that Frollo was picking up the sash she'd used to keep her from touching the freezing floor when sitting down only moments earlier. How could she have been so stupid to forget to take her sash with her under the table?

She then heard Frollo speak in, what she thought, a very creepy tone to Quasimodo, who had backed up against the table- or so she assumed from the slight shudder the table made.

When she heard Frollo declare_, It is clear taking away your meals for seven days hasn't kept you from disobeying me_, that's when it dawned on her why Quasimodo looked so weak and exhausted when she first saw him by the door. Frollo had been starving him all this time since Jocelyna's last encounter with the bell ringer. She then realised that Quasimodo's red, blood-shot eyes and bags must have been from his sleepless nights as a result of being so hungry. Jocelyna couldn't believe Frollo would be so cruel to someone so innocent, sweet and kind. That feeling she got when she overhead the two gypsy men talk badly about Quasimodo whilst preparing for the festival came to her again which made her feel very, very sick.

She was now hearing Frollo scream at Quasimodo. Her insides began to burn with fury at Frollo's disgusting treatment of her son. What made her even angrier was that she wasn't able to stop it from having to stay hidden, just like she wasn't able to stop it for the past twenty years.

It then occurred to the gypsy that Frollo wasn't facing the direction of the table but was, instead, facing Quasimodo. She knew Frollo would find her under the table sooner or later.

So, very slowly and as quietly as possible, Jocelyna lifted up the cloth and, whilst crouching, tiptoed her way from the table and into the shadows.

She had made it. She turned her head to her left to vaguely see a faint stream of light. She walked towards it to find she was now looking out of a small opening between the beams of wood and onto the balcony below her. She thought of jumping out, as the gap looked big enough for her thin body to fit through. But that was until she spotted two armoured guards standing right outside the bell tower door. They clearly belonged to Frollo, as she recognised them in their grey uniforms from the festival.

Aborting the idea, she turned around to walk back into the shadows again when she accidently stepped on a particularly creaky floorboard. The sound resounded throughout the bell tower. She held her breath, not daring to move a muscle.

She heard Frollo's voice from the direction of the table but couldn't make out what he was saying since he seemed to be saying it very quietly. It was only until she saw Frollo's shadow appear suddenly on the floor in front of her that was lit up from the gap in the tower wall that she realised what Frollo quietly said earlier was in realisation of knowing where she was hiding.

She was cornered and had no way of escaping.

She saw Frollo's shadow grow larger as he came nearer and nearer to her. Though she was in the dark, she was sure Frollo could see her, as he was now purposefully striding in the direction of where she was hiding.

Frollo was now inches away from her. She shrank as far against the wall as she could manage.

Then, all of a sudden, she heard someone from behind Frollo shout something, making Frollo turn towards Quasimodo's voice.

With Frollo distracted, Jocelyna dashed from out of the shadows and onto the railings to then jump down onto the ground floor below. But before she could get her whole body onto the wooden railings, Frollo had heard the noise and had managed to grab one of her legs, yanking her off the railings and onto the hard floor.

"Nowhere to run, gypsy," sneered the cruel minister as he yanked her up from the floor by her wrist and brought her into a very firm hold. Jocelyna's many attempts to free herself were useless.

Frollo walked back out of the shadows and into the open. Jocelyna saw Quasimodo who, from seeing her caught, began to run to her but Frollo kicked him hard on the chest, causing him to fall back onto the floor.

Jocelyna continued to struggle as Frollo dragged her down the stairs and out through the bell tower door.

"You are under arrest, gypsy, for defying the orders of the minister of Justice," announced Frollo as they were reached the balcony, his guards sneering at the gypsy as they heard this.

Back from inside the bell tower, Jocelyna heard an anguished shout followed by the sight of Quasimodo limping down the stairs towards the gypsy woman.

"NO! LET HER GO! PLEASE, MASTER!" yelled Quasimodo but Frollo, with a single nod, ordered his guards to seize Quasimodo's arms and pull him back into the bell tower. But they were not aware of the bell ringer's incredible strength so when he threw both guards off with one effortless push, the guards, now on the ground, looked positively stunned.

"GET HIM, MEN!" screamed Frollo as Quasimodo tried to advance towards Frollo again who was still holding Jocelyna tightly.

The guards, now ready this time, grabbed Quasimodo by his arms with all their might and pushed him forcefully into the bell tower. With Quasimodo still not giving up on getting them off of him, one of the guards resorted to punching the bell ringer hard in the face, knocking him out cold.

Jocelyna let out a deafening shriek at the sight. This only increased her struggles in Frollo's cold arms.

"Make sure he stays there, men," commanded Frollo, calmly, looking blankly at Quasimodo as he lay motionless on the bell tower floor.

Without another word, he began making his way from the Cathedral, with the gypsy woman still in his firm grip, and out into his grey carriage, waiting to take Jocelyna to the Palace of Justice.


	20. Chapter 20 Interrogation

**Chapter 20- Interrogation**

Neither Jocelyna nor Frollo uttered a word in the carriage to the Palace of Justice. Jocelyna knew mere words would not change the mind of that cold-hearted, callous man.

Frollo maintained his firm grasp on the gypsy's arm throughout the journey so Jocelyna knew trying to escape was also of no use. She was trapped.

She would never be able to forgive herself for getting Quasimodo into trouble with Frollo. She knew it was all her fault- leaving her sash on the bell tower floor aswell as visiting Quasimodo in the first place which she knew very well was forbidden.

The carriage suddenly came to a halt; she couldn't tell where they were since there were no windows on the carriage.

The door abruptly burst open and Jocelyna felt the familiar feeling of being yanked by the arm, just like Frollo had done earlier in the bell tower, which brought her to her feet on solid ground once again.

She had never seen the Palace of Justice but knew that the building in front of her was it from just one glance. It had several dark grey cone-shaped roofs with black steel spikes planted around each one, dark brown arched doors etched around the bottom which also had black tin spikes fastened onto each one, one or two small gaps in the walls with thin metal poles filling those gaps, and a large black steel door situated in the middle of the wall facing Jocelyna, also lined with black spikes that made their way around its frame.

The minister still maintained his silence as he dragged Jocelyna by the arm through the large steel door. The gypsy had grown tired of fighting against his grip and decided to just walk alongside him, beginning to be glad that she was being punished. She knew she deserved it.

They eventually reached a narrow corridor with walls formed of large stones wedged into gaps with several lit torches chained to them and decorated with numerous large spiders' webs.

As Jocelyna walked through, she thought she heard in the distance the sound of a whip batting against something- or someone. Her guess was confirmed when the sound of screaming followed. She cringed with every lash but Frollo, walking very closely beside her, didn't flinch; she even thought she saw a smile begin to form on his thin lips.

At the end of the corridor stood a broad-shouldered guard standing next to a plain, small, dark brown arched door that Jocelyna noticed had rusted severely- it was clearly used often.

"Alright gypsy," came Frollo's unmistakable voice that, at last, sounded in Jocelyna's ears as he drew out a large, black key before using it to open the door. He then finally let go of her bony arm and gestured her to go in.

The room was incredibly small and, like the corridor outside, adorned with spiders' webs and a few lit torches that were beginning to break free from their chains and hang loosely.

She saw the broad-shouldered guard stride his way in and head directly for Jocelyna who then shoved her wrists behind her back and tied them together with rope. The minister nodded once to the guard, like he'd done to the two soldiers up on the Cathedral's balcony, who then pushed Jocelyna forward and towards a worn-out chair positioned in the middle of the room.

As she was forcefully approaching the chair, she noticed faint smears of red splattered across the seat and back of the chair. She couldn't help retching.

The guard pushed her shoulders down so that she was sitting on the chair and brought her tied wrists behind the back along with her feet which were now being tied together with rope and fixed to the chair legs. The guard finally began striding his way back out the door, leaving Jocelyna all alone at the hands of the cruel minister.

"Is it a custom of your kind to defy orders?" enquired Frollo in a tone that sounded like he was merely asking her about tomorrow's weather. But Jocelyna remained silent; giving the minister the irate look she had given him at the festival. "I suspect you are wondering why I have brought you here rather than to the cells," spoke Frollo calmly, ignoring the gypsy's look of utter loathing at him. She maintained her silence once more.

The judge, still not getting a response, glided towards Jocelyna and crouched down so that he was level with her.

"Pay attention gypsy, I am going to give you a choice that could deduct your arrest," but Jocelyna didn't change her expression one bit upon hearing this. Frollo decided to continue anyway. "Your sentence for your insubordination of my orders will be entirely lifted if, right this moment, you can tell me where the gypsy hideout is located. If you fail, you will be hanged for the insolent gypsy you are".

For the first time since entering the room, Jocelyna's expression changed. Upon seeing this change, Frollo smirked; glad to finally be getting through to her. Jocelyna kept her silence still, Frollo now growing irritated.

"I'm waiting gypsy. Tell me now...or be hanged," he uttered simply as he remained in his crouched position, glaring at the gypsy woman who now looked very nervous.

Frollo leaned further towards Jocelyna to interrogate her more before something he had suddenly noticed made him draw back abruptly. The gypsy gasped at the swift movement of the Judge.

"No, no...no..." was all the almost panic-stricken minister whispered as he stared, open-mouthed, at Jocelyna. He had suddenly noticed something as he had leaned closer towards the gypsy, something that made, even him, very anxious.

Jocelyna just sat there staring at the minister, confused at the unexpected change from his angry expression to the almost scared one he was wearing now.

What Frollo had noticed, that had caught him completely off guard, was the unnerved eyes of the gypsy. Though he had been met with countless frightened faces and eyes in the past, Frollo had only seen this particular fearful expression and these alarmed eyes only once before- on Quasimodo.

Frollo was beside himself. No, she couldn't be. But Frollo was now beginning to realise that the gypsy woman's frightened expression and eyes weren't the only thing similar to the bell ringer's.

The colour and texture of the gypsy's eyes were also incredibly similar though, Frollo admitted, were slightly less clear and blue. Frollo knew these similarities were now too obvious and strong to be mere coincidence. It suddenly began to come back to him. It was her. The gypsy who'd defied his orders twenty years ago by running from him to Notre Dame. The gypsy who was supposed to have been dead.

Frollo continued to stare at the gypsy woman, now going back to looking at her fiercely. He then gradually collected his usual refined manner as he decided to delay his initial plans to first confirm his discovery.

If she really was the impertinent gypsy who defied him twenty years ago and who was supposed to have been dead, she would be hanged. She had defied him too many times to live.

Frollo addressed her once again, "now gypsy, I would like you to tell me something else. Is this the first time you have disobeyed my orders?"

Jocelyna looked at Frollo, confused with his sudden change in questions. She thought for a moment before shaking her head simply, not wanting to reveal the fact that she had.

Frollo gave her yet another cold look, knowing full well that she was lying.

"Are you absolutely sure? Well, it seems to me that you have...say...twenty years ago... on a little trip you took... in the middle... of the night?" he said, his voice a higher in a condescending way.

Jocelyna's eyes widened in horror, just like they had done when she'd first laid eyes on the Judge those many years ago. He knew. This was it, she was done for.

Frollo smirked at her reaction but continued to grill her further out of sheer cruelty. "Yes, I remember it was particularly cold that evening. So, do you now recall your act of insolence?" he asked using the sinister, spine-chilling voice he'd used to interrogate Quasimodo in the bell tower earlier.

He then began to pace the dirty floor with his hands respectfully behind his back. He continued, still maintain the patronising tone."You were running as fast as your bony little legs could carry you and with the weight of that fiend in your arms! My, you must have been proud of yourself! But, unfortunately, you just didn't run fast enough, did you? Is it all beginning to become clear now, gypsy? Does it ring any...bells?" The judge smirked again at his last question.

Jocelyna had had enough. "Stop it, you know bloody well who I am now so enough with the third degree," she said, quietly but not quietly enough for Frollo not to hear. She wanted to scream at him but, for some reason, her courage to do so failed her.

Frollo grinned, very pleased that she had finally cracked. "It is you, isn't it? _You're_ the mother of that monster!" He continued pacing the floor. "Tell me, witch, how did you come back from the dead?"

Jocelyna rolled her eyes at Frollo. Something then burnt up inside her and before she knew it, she suddenly yelled, "Is this what you brought me here for?! Just to do a background check on me?!"

Even Frollo looked a little taken back by her outburst but the gypsy sustained her cold look, proud of herself for finally having the courage to say it.

The judge was now growing more irritated. "Alright, gypsy, I've tried to be patient with you. You are going to tell me where the other gypsies are hiding or die like you should have done twenty years ago!"

Now feeling she could handle the Judge, Jocelyna leaned towards Frollo as much as the ropes would allow so she was very close to his face and simply uttered, "Never," before spitting at him right in the face.

Frollo staggered back, glaring at her disgustedly.

"Have it your way," growled Frollo before untying the ropes that bound Jocelyna's legs to the chair and yanking her up by the arm once again.

Like the journey to the Palace, neither one spoke as Jocelyna was being led by Frollo back through the torch-lit corridor to a nearby cell to await her fate.


	21. Chapter 21 Despondent

**Chapter 21- Despondent**

Quasimodo was slowly beginning to come round into consciousness when he began to feel the sensation of being dragged across a very cold, wooden floor by two hands placed very firmly on both of his arms.

"Look, he's beginnin' to wake up, wha' shall we do? He'll probably kill us when he finds out what we're doin'. Think of wha' he did to us earlier, you know he'll be capable of it," whispered one of the soldiers as he took a glance at Quasimodo's partly closed eyes whilst trying to maintain his grip on the bell ringer's broad left arm.

"Nah, the monster will be too weak from faintin' to do anything like that now," scorned the second solider, grasping as tightly as he could onto Quasimodo's other broad arm.

The soldiers remained silent as they hauled the bell ringer's limp body with all their might out of the dark stairwell and onto the lever below the bell tower that had numerous thick, stone pillars placed parallel to each other on the sides of the path ahead of them.

Both guards knew Quasimodo would somehow have been able to escape the bell tower even if they did lock the door, so they had decided earlier to chain him to these many stone pillars instead in order to greatly increase the chance of him not escaping this time.

The two guards stopped heaving Quasimodo when he was positioned directly in between two of the rock-solid pillars.

"Get the chains," murmured the guard who'd been gripping onto Quasimodo's right arm to which the other guard dashed back into the stairwell before slowly emerging, carrying a large mound of chains spiralled around each other like snakes in his shaking arms.

He stumbled over to the guard standing beside the now kneeling Quasimodo who helped him unwind the chains from the pile before attaching the motionless bell ringer to the various pillars beside him. They deliberately used up all the many chains in the large pile in order to be absolutely certain the bell ringer couldn't escape since they were well aware of his phenomenal strength. They fastened the chains to every bit of his body- his legs, arms, torso, even his neck- and wound them through as many pillars as possible, decorating them like tinsel on a Christmas tree.

Once they had fastened every chain on Quasimodo to the pillars and pulled tight, the soldiers grinned maliciously to each other before heading towards the stairwell and disappearing into the darkness.

Quasimodo had now completely come round to see his body inescapably bound by chains to the rock- hard pillars scattered around him.

He edged towards the edge of the tall Cathedral to notice a wooden platform illuminated by the moon in the sky above that had been placed in the middle of the square below him. His eyes drifted to the noose that was hanging limply on the beam above it that had been positioned on the platform. It suddenly occurred to him.

Now knowing exactly who that noose was for gave him a dull ache in his chest. He merely sighed once before bowing his head dejectedly. In a few hours, he was going to lose the kindest person he'd ever met, the dearest friend he'll ever have.

It was hopeless, utterly hopeless.


	22. Chapter 22 Sanctuary

**Chapter 22- Sanctuary**

Jocelyna didn't sleep for one second as she lay unmoving on the freezing stone floor of the cell.

She had been staring at its mouldy ceiling which, throughout the whole time she was there, did not stop dripping what looked like sewage water. Every drop fell past the small gap of the cell, illuminated for a moment by the moonlight, and splashed loudly on the ground directly below- adding to the ever-growing puddle situated next to the gypsy woman's feet.

She was utterly despondent.

She tried to make Quasimodo's lonely life more endurable by giving him pleasant company but ended up making it so much worse with Frollo now beyond fuming at him for allowing it.

The sun was barely peeking over the mountains in the distance when the same broad-shouldered guard who she had seen standing next to that arched brown door yesterday arrived at her cell and began unlocking the thick padlock attached to its door.

"Come with me, gypsy," snarled the guard as Jocelyna slowly got up from her lying position and walked dejectedly towards him and out through the opened cell door. The guard then tied her wrists in front of her and used the extra bit of rope to lead her with him, ensuring she didn't escape.

The journey was long, with the guard, like Frollo, not uttering a single word to Jocelyna or even recognising her presence except for the occasional glance behind him to make sure she had not run away.

Having ended the long trek through the stone-walled, torch-lit corridor, she was now walking through the large steel door that led outside onto the Paris streets.

To smell fresh air once again was definitely a pleasurable feeling for Jocelyna but knowing she wouldn't be able to smell it anymore after this morning made the feeling evaporate as quickly as it came. She went back to hanging her head low.

She was unsure as to why she was being led out the Palace of Justice since the executions and punishments seemed to take place inside rather than in the streets. But Jocelyna's queries were soon answered when the guard had walked her onto the very familiar town square outside Notre Dame Cathedral.

She gulped when she spotted a tall wooden platform holding a wooden beam, supported by two wooden posts, which flaccidly hung a rope with a noose tied on the end.

She then noticed the square was packed with crowds of people standing around the platform. Her eyes narrowed angrily when she lifted her head to the platform once again to see Judge Claude Frollo already standing on it and holding what appeared to be a scroll.

To her absolute horror, Jocelyna then spotted several wheeled cages positioned in the outer layers of the crowd that contained large amounts of people in them. What made her eyes widen in utter shock was when she recognised the tall, slim frame of Clopin among the people in the cages, standing closest to its metal poles.

She then panned her eyes over the cages to notice _all_ her gypsy friends from the camp were locked up. She couldn't believe her eyes. Frollo had discovered their hideout. How?

Jocelyna tried as best as she could to consider how _on earth_ Frollo had managed to achieve this when the broad-shouldered guard pulled at the rope, forcing the gypsy woman to continue the short walk to the platform.

"Welcome, gypsy," declared the Judge mockingly as Jocelyna was pulled up the steps and positioned underneath the noose, her hands still tied in front of her so she wasn't able to punch him in the face. All Jocelyna was able to do was give Frollo the cold look she never ceased to give him when in that small room in the Palace of Justice yesterday.

Frollo took one moment to smirk at the sight of the gypsy with her neck now in the noose before turning to face the growing crowd forming around the stand to recite what was on the scroll.

"Ladies and gentleman, you are all gathered here this morning to witness the execution of the gypsy, Jocelyna. It is due to her insolence and defiance of my explicit orders _on several occasions_ (Frollo's eyes darted towards Jocelyna) that has brought her to be hanged before you today." Jocelyna thought she heard the crowd booing loudly below her in response to Frollo's reading.

That was clearly the end of Frollo's speech, as the broad-shouldered guard had come in front of Jocelyna to adjust the noose on her neck so that it would hit the right spot when the flooring beneath her gave way.

The slow, monotonous beat of a drum began to sound beneath her which was undoubtedly the signal for the broad-shouldered guard to then pull the lever that was positioned adjacent to her.

This was it. This was the moment she would breathe her last breath. The last moment she would be able to think of Quasimodo and tell him over and over again in her head how much she loved him.

Jocelyna shut her eyes, not wanting to see Frollo smirking at her any longer, when, all of a sudden, she heard an anguished yell that sounded like it was coming from the Cathedral behind her. She opened her eyes and abruptly turned her head round to look up to the Cathedral, along with Frollo and the crowd.

Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the stone pillars situated in the upper middle of the Cathedral begin to tremble violently. She couldn't believe her eyes. The entire Cathedral was now beginning to shake, causing many bits of rock and rubble to fall to the ground below her. She craned her neck up higher but couldn't see what was causing this astonishing occurrence. She glanced at Frollo, now looking absolutely fuming- more than usual.

Murmurs and mutters began to issue from the apprehensive crowd.

She looked up at the Cathedral again to now witness the most extraordinary thing she had ever seen in her life- the many rock-hard pillars were now ferociously breaking into pieces and collapsing onto the misty ground beneath them. She was absolutely stunned.

What resembled smoke was now beginning to emerge from the area and rise up slowly into the amber sky. Neither the crowd, Frollo, the guards nor Jocelyna knew what to do. They all kept their eyes nervously peeled to the now completely wrecked pillars above them to find out what exactly had caused this.

And then he appeared. With his red hair and pale skin, Jocelyna recognised at once the man emerging from the foggy space and descending a rope that now hung down the Cathedral. She beamed at him. She was beyond amazed. It was him. He was the one who completely demolished the Cathedral's pillars. The scattering of chains that began to swing themselves over the edge of the now totally empty space made the gypsy woman comprehend.

Not one single eye looked away from Quasimodo as he swung down from the rope as a free man, leapt off and landed on the platform, centimetres in front of Jocelyna.

Before she knew what was happening, he'd ripped the rope around her neck in two and had now lifted her clean off her feet into a very secure embrace.

She was only able to capture the animalistic look of the Judge before being swept high up into the air, still being held very firmly. The many stunned faces of the crowd were beginning to shrink as she continued to rise higher.

She then felt an abrupt _thud_ as she was now being carried incredibly fast up the side of a building. Quasimodo was climbing the Cathedral! Shouts of alarm and terror began to form from the crowd miles below her. Jocelyna suddenly began to feel very faint.

Quasimodo had managed to reach the balcony that curved around the Cathedral's stunning round stain glass window and was now running, seemingly effortlessly, along it.

Jocelyna then felt two large, warm hands place themselves on her back before they thrust her high into the air- the smoke from below her thinly rising in front of them.

"SANCTUARY!" came the same anguished voice she heard from between the concrete pillars earlier. "SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY!" it repeated as Jocelyna dimly heard below her the sound of cheers and applause.

She was beyond amazed. Quasimodo had saved her life. He was a hero.


	23. Chapter 23 Under attack

**Chapter 23- Under attack**

The Judge just stood on the platform, paralysed with fury. He decided he would take care that the two soldiers were executed for failing to make sure the bell ringer didn't escape.

Frollo continued to stand where he was, the scroll now ripped to smithereens in his shaking hands, when the broad-shouldered guard approached him from behind.

"What shall we do, your honour?" he asked the judge.

Frollo deliberated for a moment, still never ceasing to take his eyes off the Cathedral, before simply announcing, "cease the Cathedral."

"You'll be safe here," declared the gentle bell ringer softly as he carefully placed Jocelyna on a blanketed table in a small room in the tower opposite his bell tower.

Jocelyna couldn't tell Quasimodo just how grateful she was for saving her life. She was still in shock but was gradually beginning to relax and take everything in. She couldn't help thinking just how furious Frollo must be right now.

All of a sudden, a loud bang issued from below them which then repeated itself several more times. Quasimodo gestured for Jocelyna to stay where she was before sprinting out the room and running to the balcony wall.

He gave a loud gasp as he saw beneath him a dozen soldiers carrying one of the large wooden platform beams and using it to bash the Cathedral door down. His eyebrows creased in anger at the sight of them trying to destroy his home. He wasn't going to let them win.

The fight had begun.

Jocelyna obeyed Quasimodo's orders and stayed where she was in that small room but she desperately wanted to find out what was going on outside the partly closed door in front of her.

She walked cautiously towards it, still shaking from being carried all the way up the tall Cathedral, and gingerly opened it. Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw thick, jet black smoke rapidly rising in front of her. Her legs then seemed to act of their own accord as she now found herself already positioned at the balcony wall. She leaned over to see absolute horror.

Parts of the Cathedral had actually caught fire and were beginning to fall lifelessly onto the concrete below, adding to the ever-growing bonfire that had begun to form. The members of the crowd on the square appeared to be holding torches and were racing towards the Cathedral along with hundreds of soldiers using anything they could find to penetrate its beautiful exterior.

Every now and again she felt the floor below her tremble, making her lose her footing. The Cathedral was under attack! The gypsy whipped her head around her in an effort to find Quasimodo- but he was nowhere to be seen. She began to panic. Where was he?

To her relief, she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. She exhaled before turning around, ready to smile at the bell ringer. Her smile instantly disappeared, however, when she spun round to face the red, veined face of Judge Claude Frollo, his button eyes piercing her skin.

"You-"started the gypsy, not afraid of him anymore, but before she could say another word, the judge swung his fist at her face, instantly knocking her to the ground.

"Quasi...mo...do..., Quasi..mo.." she yelled as loudly as she could, not giving in to the drained feeling that was beginning to sweep over her body.

She was about to yell one last time when she heard the distressed voice of Quasimodo shout her name from behind Frollo. Jocelyna weakly opened her eyes, beyond relieved to see that he was alright, before allowing herself to finally slide into unconsciousness. Frollo, however, didn't look nearly as relieved.

"Dear boy, haven't you caused enough trouble already?" spoke the Judge in his chillingly soft voice that made even Jocelyna's limp body flinch. Quasimodo ignored him and dashed right past him to aid the motionless gypsy woman. Frollo noticed Quasimodo's back was turned in his effort to help the gypsy. This was a perfect opportunity.

The Judge walked solemnly towards the crouched bell ringer, gently placed one hand on his raised shoulder and spoke in that same chilling voice, "my dear Quasimodo. I hope you can understand that it was only my duty to sentence her to death in the first place- she had disobeyed the law."

Quasimodo continued to ignore him as he tried to tend as best as he could to the still unconscious gypsy lying against the balcony wall.

"Well, it's lucky she's alive. There's no doubt she'll be alright now," spoke the Judge as he, with his one hand still placed firmly on the young man's hunched shoulder, began to draw out a dagger from his dark robes. "But, unfortunately, Quasimodo, I cannot say the same about you."

Just clocking what Frollo had said, Quasimodo stopped tending to Jocelyna, confused, and turned his head up towards Frollo. He gave a loud gasp upon seeing the Judge extending a dagger high above his head, ready to strike. Quasimodo was quick enough to stand up on his feet and catch Frollo's dagger-wielding arm, the blade being only centimetres above his head.

The Judge growled angrily at the bell ringer, furious that his plan hadn't worked.

Quasimodo never ceased to withhold his grip on Frollo's arm that still held the weapon. Frollo, all the while, was using all his strength to lower the dagger towards Quasimodo, with the bell ringer using his own incredible strength to sturdily keep Frollo's arm at a distance.

Quasimodo couldn't believe what was happening. His own master was trying to kill him. The same man who'd taken him in those many years ago when no one else would after his mother abandoned him. The man who sheltered him, clothed him and gave him food. He couldn't understand how Frollo would want to do this to him. For all his life, the bell ringer had trusted him, cared for him and even saw him as a father.

But seeing him now made all his previous respect and admiration for Frollo suddenly disintegrate. At last, he was able to see him for what he was. Then, all of a sudden, a very unfamiliar feeling burned in Quasimodo's insides and coursed through his veins. He was angry. Very, very angry.

He looked up once more at Frollo glaring fiercely down at him before using his amazing upper body strength to hold Frollo above him and throw him far away onto the cold floor of the balcony, catching the dagger as it soared into the air. The angry feeling inside Quasimodo still continued to burn.

Breathing heavily, he strode towards the Judge, now cowering on the balcony floor metres in front of him, and raised the dagger in his right hand to the height Frollo had done a moment ago. Quasimodo was so unbelievably angry that he would have killed Frollo there and then were it not for his good heart and ability to know better. One thing was for sure, he was nothing like Frollo.

The trembling Judge eventually managed to find a voice. "N-now, l-listen to me, Q-Quasimodo. Alright, just p-put that down and l-listen to me-"

But Quasimodo interrupted him, "NO YOU LISTEN! All my life you have told me the world is a dark cruel place, but now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like YOU!"

Frollo was stunned. Quasimodo, having finally got that off his chest after twenty years of build up, began to calm down. He eyed the dagger still in his hand before throwing it on the ground, still never taking his eyes off the Judge.

There was total silence between the two, Frollo on the floor still and Quasimodo towering over him, when all of a sudden a voice sounded from behind. It was Jocelyna. Quasimodo, now looking away from Frollo, raced towards the gypsy woman and effortlessly picked her up, extremely glad that she was alright.

But what Quasimodo didn't notice was that Frollo had already picked himself up off the floor and now had an even bigger sword in his hand, ready to strike again. Luckily, Jocelyna, from Quasimodo's arms, saw this and yelled, "QUASI, LOOK OUT!" just as Frollo was about to stab the bell ringer in the back.

Without looking behind him, Quasimodo leapt over the Cathedral's balcony- now hanging with one arm on a stone gargoyle high above the battles and ambush still going on in the square below.

Now completely suspended in midair, both Jocelyna and Quasimodo spotted Frollo leaning over the balcony, continuing his effort to stab at both of them.

The bell ringer adjusted Jocelyna onto his back, telling her to hold on tightly, to widen the range of movement of his arms and legs and began leaping from gargoyle to gargoyle in an attempt to dodge Frollo's repeated slashes- Jocelyna biting her lip from screaming from the incredible drop beneath them.

So far, Quasimodo was doing really well; gracefully jumping onto each gargoyle way before Frollo had even managed to get himself over to them.

To his dismay, Quasimodo had eventually reached the edge of the Cathedral, having now run out of gargoyles to leap onto. The bell ringer grabbed onto the neck of the last gargoyle perched on the balcony wall and used his free arm to haul himself and Jocelyna up.

Once on firm ground again on the other side of the wall, Quasimodo collapsed to the floor, exhausted. Frollo saw this and deemed this a very good opportunity to do what he should have done twenty years ago.

The Judge raced to the edge of the Cathedral and raised his sword high above his head, ready to kill Quasimodo. But the bell ringer was not going to let him win. He used what little energy he had left to heave himself up onto his feet and climb onto the back of the same gargoyle he had used earlier to climb up onto.

He continued to walk carefully backwards on the gargoyle until his heart suddenly gave a horrible leap as his one foot had continued to pace backwards into midair. Quasimodo glanced behind him to see nothing but a heart-stopping drop below him and then in front of him to see the angry minister raising his sword again, determined to end the monster once and for all. He was trapped. Either way, Quasimodo knew he was going to die.

"Nowhere to run, hunchback," sneered the ruthless Judge.

Quasimodo saw, out the corner of his eye, Jocelyna being grabbed by two guards who had come up from behind her and now had her in their firm grip. Jocelyna was incapable of helping her son.

Frollo drifted his eyes to his left and grinned at the struggling gypsy woman before a thought suddenly occurred to him- making his grin widen even more. His dark eyes darted back to Quasimodo once more.

"I should have known you'd risk your life to save that gypsy," snarled Frollo to the bell ringer as he signalled to Jocelyna, "just like she risked her life trying to save you twenty years ago."

Jocelyna suddenly stopped struggling in the soldier's arms, staring at Frollo with wide eyes, not believing what he had just said. She didn't dare turn her head to Quasimodo, as she couldn't bear to see his reaction.

Quasimodo, still standing on the gargoyle, blinked very fast, trying to take in what the Judge had announced. "W-w-what do you mean?" he asked quietly, now trembling from the emotion.

Frollo smirked once more before plainly declaring, "she's your mother."

Jocelyna finally dared to look up at Quasimodo, now just as still as the gargoyle he was standing on.


	24. Chapter 24And he shall smite the wicked

**Chapter 24- And he shall smite the wicked**

The bell ringer stood, motionless from shock, on the back of the gargoyle, not knowing who to look at.

He traced back the past few weeks in his head. It made sense in a way. Quasimodo had only briefly met Jocelyna once at the festival but not enough for her to confidently wonder into his bell tower. He assumed there were stories about him which it was likely they were heard by Jocelyna, yet she wondered into the bell tower so confidently and relaxed as though she knew him. No one else would have dared to have done that. The pieces fit.

He was too deep in thought to notice Frollo proclaiming, "and now I am going to do what I should have done, twenty years ago!" before attempting to stab at Quasimodo once again.

Luckily, Quasimodo saw the swift movement of the sword from the corner of his eye which instinctively made him leap off the gargoyle's back and onto the balcony yards away from Frollo, missing the blade by a centimetre.

Frollo growled loudly before chasing after the running bell ringer and, once caught up with him, pushing him against the balcony wall- pinning him down with one hand on his neck. There was no room for Quasimodo to escape.

Frollo was thrilled he could finally finish him off.

He began lifting the sword high above Quasimodo, just like he'd done the first time he tried to kill him, when suddenly Quasimodo used his powerful legs to raise the Judge above him and lunge him onto the other side of the balcony wall.

Though Quasimodo had chucked Frollo back lightly so that he would only land on the other side of the balcony wall rather than fall to his death, the Judge had lost his footing. Rather than fall, however, Frollo managed to grab on to the neck of a gargoyle that was sticking out of the Cathedral.

The Judge looked up to see Quasimodo right above him on the other side of the balcony wall before grabbing him by the back of his tunic and sending him over the wall too, this time, hard enough to send him falling to his death. But, like Frollo, Quasimodo was quick enough to hold on to the neck of another gargoyle next to Frollo.

Both were now suspended in mid air, holding on for their lives.

Jocelyna had, all the while, been using all her strength to release herself from the grip of the soldiers. Then it came to her.

Just like she had done to the man holding her back from helping Quasimodo at the festival, Jocelyna turned round and punched both guards incredibly hard in the face and, like she expected, causing them to reel back onto the floor. She was free.

Before a second thought, she sprinted across the balcony to the place where Frollo and Quasimodo were now hanging for their lives on the necks of the Cathedral's gargoyles. She leant over the wall and grabbed onto Quasimodo's hand in an attempt to pull him up. This was a very difficult task, as he was extremely heavy. But this did not stop her from trying to save her son's life.

But just as Jocelyna was beginning to slightly lift Quasimodo up, she saw Frollo swing from the neck of his own gargoyle and begin to bring his foot over it. He then pulled himself up and was now standing firmly on top of it, laughing maliciously at the victory he would soon receive.

Jocelyna's eyes widened in horror as she saw Frollo lift the sword high above his head, preparing to finally finish the both of them at last.

All of a sudden, she heard the distinct voice of Quasimodo call up to her, "don't let go!" before she felt Quasimodo pull at her arm as though forcing her down with him. She only realised what he was doing when she saw him swinging, using her arm for momentum.

Quasimodo was now swinging back and forth, holding tightly onto Jocelyna's arm.

From above him, Frollo gave one more malevolent laugh before announcing to the heavens, "and now he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!"

Quasimodo was now beginning to feel the burning sensation inside him once again. He was beyond angry at Frollo. He had lied to him all his life._ He was not in a million years ever going to let his mother be taken away from him. Not in a million years would he ever let Frollo win. No._

Quasimodo continued to swing until he gained enough power to raise his left leg and kick the sword clean out of Frollo's raised hand- the sword now spinning rapidly towards the ground far below them.

From the impact of the kick, Frollo was knocked backwards onto the gargoyle and was now using both his arms and legs in his desperate effort to stay on. But suddenly the gargoyle began to shake; bits of rock began breaking away from its neck.

The stone gargoyle was now beginning to crumble into a thousand pieces in Frollo's lifeless hands, throwing the Judge backwards- screaming as he plunged into hellfire below.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Hehe, notice the reference to chapter 2 when Jocelyna also thought the whole, "Not in a million years..." thing, just like Quasi did here!

I admit, I was quite proud of that :-D


	25. Chapter 25 At last

**Chapter 25- At last**

He was gone. Both Quasimodo and Jocelyna couldn't believe it. But neither had time to think, as Quasimodo was still suspended in mid air and Jocelyna had to help him.

She continued trying to lift him up. Quasimodo was beginning to feel very faint from the smoke coming from the bonfire below but he didn't let that overtake his body, not when his life was hanging by a thread. So, with the remaining energy he had, the bell ringer put his left foot through one of the gaps in the balcony wall and used it to haul himself off the gargoyle and over onto the other side, Jocelyna helping him all the way.

Once on firm ground, they both collapsed onto a heap on the floor, utterly exhausted from helping Quasimodo up as well as from all the emotion that overtook their bodies. It was then that the bell ringer remembered what Frollo had told him only moments earlier. This made him bolt upright and onto his feet.

He stared, startled, at the gypsy woman lying on the ground. She couldn't be. Though the whole thing did make sense, the bell ringer just couldn't come to terms with it. After all, he'd spent his whole life being told his mother abandoned him- what was he supposed to think? Due to his former trust for his master, Quasimodo believed him. And to suddenly be told that it was all a lie was just too overwhelming for the young man.

He continued to never take his eyes off Jocelyna as she sat up, now aware of Quasimodo's reaction. She heaved in a sigh and uttered just one word, "Rhayeder".

Quasimodo was not expecting that. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, still not saying a word.

She continued to sit where she was and gently and slowly patted the ground next to her, motioning him to come and sit with her.

What followed was a very awkward moment.

Of course, Quasimodo would have loved to have just run to her- but his feet remained where they were. He couldn't explain how thrilled he was that he had a mother all this time but it was the 'all this time' part that made him slightly angry and what kept his distance. All this time, she knew about him yet she waited twenty years to see him. Why didn't she see him sooner? He had spent all his miserable life in that cold, dark bell tower thinking he was utterly worthless from believing his own mother didn't even want him. But, even through all the anger and confusion, he knew why Jocelyna couldn't have visited him sooner.

Quasimodo was jumped back to the present when he heard Jocelyna say that strange word again while she continued to gently pat the ground.

After one more painful minute, he finally gave in.

The gypsy woman beamed at him as she saw him edge slowly and carefully towards her and cautiously sit down next to her, still keeping a distance and still not taking her eyes off her. It was Jocelyna who spoke first.

"Look, Quasimodo, I understand that this must be incredibly difficult to comprehend, what with you spending your whole life not knowing you had a..." She didn't say the word quite yet, as she didn't want things to get too frightening for Quasimodo.

The bell ringer, still a tiny bit angry, coldly replied, "I was taught she'd _abandoned_ me, actually."

Jocelyna sighed again, understanding very well why he was a little angry with her but, even so, feeling quite hurt at his coldness towards her. She pictured this a little differently in her head.

Quasimodo noticed her hurt expression and suddenly felt absolutely terrible. He so badly wanted everything to work out between them but he just couldn't help feeling upset and distressed from finding out that he had been lied to for all his life by the one person, before meeting Jocelyna, he completely trusted.

Finally, after another awkward silence, the bell ringer spoke again but this time, having calmed down a little, in his usual kind voice.

"That word you mentioned earlier. W-what does it mean?" enquired the young man curiously.

Jocelyna smiled warmly at him and simply replied, "It's your name."

Quasimodo's eyes widened. Though he knew the name, 'Quasimodo' was the name Frollo had given him, it just never before occurred to him that, of course, he would have had another name before being taken in. He began saying the name over and over in his head. Rhayeder. Rha-ye-der. It sounded a lot better than 'Quasimodo' and most likely didn't have a meaning that reflected his deformity, so he was happy with it. He even felt a smile begin to form on his lips.

Jocelyna noticed this which made her relax a little, hoping now that things could possibly turn out alright for the both of them.

She knew it was time.

She adjusted her long skirt in preparation to finally tell her son absolutely everything- the trip which separated them in the first place, the archdeacon telling her to sacrifice him to save the innocent, the rose she'd bring to him every year to the Cathedral on his birthday as well as the desperate longing to see him again that she felt every single miserable day.

It took Jocelyna quite some time to explain everything in such a way that wouldn't make things seem too fast for Quasimodo. The young man, all the while, was listening very intently to her every word, not speaking or interrupting her once.

Quasimodo was positively stunned. All this time, he had no idea that someone out there in the cruel world actually loved him and cared for him. All this time, he thought no one could love a monster. This was the very first time in all his twenty years that Quasimodo actually felt loved. He never wanted this feeling to end.

When Jocelyna had finished explaining everything, ending on how she so desperately wanted to tell Quasimodo the truth when in the bell tower the first time, both just sat in silence.

"Um...do you have any questions?" Jocelyna eventually asked the young man. She thought this silly- _of course_ he would have questions!

Quasimodo thought for a moment before replying quietly, "y-yes... I do a-actually...um...do I have a...a f-father?"

Jocelyna bowed her head, half expecting this.

"Well...um... I'm afraid he...he left when you were born..." she replied, dropping her gaze to the stone floor of the balcony. Quasimodo blinked several times at this but Jocelyna continued. "You see, I-I met him at my previous gypsy camp. I always found him very good- looking, even before we met properly. We'd only been seeing each other for a few months but we thought we would...you know..."

But Quasimodo just stared at her, confused. He clearly _didn't_ know. Jocelyna looked at him for a moment before carrying on. "Well, a few weeks after..._that_, I found out I was pregnant. I told him the news and, to my surprise, he was actually delighted. We were both quite young, I was 17 and he was 21, but he thought we could somehow manage to raise a child. He said we'd get plenty of help from the other gypsies. Anyway, on the day of your birth he gathered round me and helped me like any good father-to-be would have done...but... the minute he saw you h-he...he"

A lump suddenly began to form in her throat before tears started forming in her eyes. She couldn't continue. She then felt a warm touch on the top of her hand that had been resting on her knee. She looked up to find Quasimodo's large hand was gently holding her small, thin hand as he gave her a warm, compassionate smile.

She gradually composed herself, giving her son looks of gratitude before asking him if he had any more questions.

Quasimodo made sure Jocelyna was alright before thinking another moment and replying, "w-well just one more if that would be alright." Jocelyna nodded enthusiastically, making Quasimodo smile. "Well, h-how...how did I end up being...you know...deformed...in the first place? W-what happened?"

Jocelyna bowed her head again, also half expecting this. "Well, I...I don't really know for sure. When I had just had you, I asked a few of the gypsies at my other camp about why you looked...the way you looked. But nothing obvious came to them when they looked at you so all they said was that something must have gone wrong in the womb that necessarily didn't have to be caused by anything. Apparently it just happens occasionally during pregnancy. That could explain your skin and hair colour as well but I guess we'll never know for sure."

Quasimodo nodded slightly before asking solemnly, "w-when you first saw me, did you ever at all think of abandoning me, like Frollo had said?"

Upon hearing this made Jocelyna get up onto her knees so that she was face to face with Quasimodo and lightly cup his face with both her hands, making sure he listened to everything she was about to tell him.

"I have loved you your entire life. From the moment I first laid eyes upon you I knew I would never, in a million years, be able to stop loving you. I would rather die than let anything else happen to you. A-and, it has _killed_ me all these years that I... haven't been able to be with you. These twenty years have been absolute torture, as I haven't been able to share every day with you, watching you grow and learn and become the remarkable man that you are today. Please, please understand that. Please."

Jocelyna released her hands of Quasimodo's face, beginning to feel the tears in her eyes again.

She was just beginning to think that what she said might have been too much for Quasimodo to take in when all of a sudden she felt thick arms abruptly swing themselves around her neck, causing her to fall onto the sides of her knees, almost toppling over.

Jocelyna brought her arms across her son's back and sunk her chin into his left shoulder, thrilled to bits that Quasimodo had accepted her. She began stroking his red hair very gently as he continued to cling onto her, never wanting to let go.

Jocelyna then felt wet trickles land on her back before realising that Quasimodo was crying. She gently rocked her son in her arms whilst softly humming the lullaby she quietly sang to him when on the trip to Paris those many years ago.

Though it had taken those many twenty years, Jocelyna was over the moon that she was finally properly reunited with her son.

At last.


	26. Chapter 26 Into the sunlight

**Chapter 26- Into the sunlight **

Quasimodo and Jocelyna spent the rest of the morning just sitting on the Cathedral balcony and talking, as though they'd known each other for years.

Like she had wanted to for all these years, Jocelyna told Quasimodo about herself and parts of her own life. She wanted her son to know her as well as she now knew him. To his surprise, Quasimodo found it a lot easier to accept Jocelyna as his mother than he thought. It was as though something inside him just knew.

Jocelyna loved hearing more of what Quasimodo had to say. Just like in the bell tower a week ago, he never ceased to fascinate her with everything he said. The awkward silence that had happened a few times before didn't occur once. They were getting along really, really well.

Eventually, Jocelyna brought up the question of her son's name- whether he wanted to stick with his current name or go back to being 'Rhayeder'. After much thought, Quasimodo decided he very much liked his first name and would prefer to have a name that didn't constantly remind him that he was a monster. If anything, Quasimodo didn't want to hold onto the memories of his lonely days in the bell tower so he decided to erase everything- the bell tower, Frollo and his name.

The morning very gradually began to break into the afternoon, the sun now high up in the sky, when both Quasimodo and Jocelyna remembered the state the town square was in just a few hours ago in the very early morning. There had been fights, fires and soldiers ambushing the Cathedral.

They both simultaneously got up from their sitting position, their legs numb from sitting down for so long, and saw that the bonfire on the square had been completely extinguished and that the Cathedral was no longer under attack. The platform that had been built to hang Jocelyna was even gone which made Quasimodo sigh in relief, knowing his mother was free. They also noticed that there was a very large crowd gathered on the square which was oddly facing the direction of Notre Dame, obviously waiting for something exciting to happen.

The gypsy woman, without uttering a single word, realised who they were waiting for and simply held out her hand to Quasimodo. The bell ringer noticed this sudden movement from the corner of his eye and turned before staring anxiously at it, also realising. The gypsy woman beamed encouragingly at her son before Quasimodo returned the smile and slowly took her hand, allowing her to lead him downstairs. The young man knew he would not be able to do what he was about to do without her.

After descending the many steps from the balcony to the main Cathedral, Jocelyna, still holding Quasimodo's hand protectively, looked about her as though expecting Frollo to sneak up behind them.

She spotted the large oak doors in front of her and the thin stream of daylight they were allowing in through the small opening in between the door and the wall.

She walked slowly towards the doors, allowing Quasimodo time to ready himself for this big step, and stopped just as she was in touching distance of them. She felt Quasimodo's large hand shaking slightly and turned around to give him an encouraging smile. She knew he could do this.

She pulled open one of the large doors and strode her way out towards the crowd, leading Quasimodo with her. But before she had left the shadows, Quasimodo abruptly let go of her hand, causing her to walk into the open by herself. She didn't have time to turn back or even glance back, as the crowd had spotted her standing on Notre Dame's steps and were now passionately cheering and applauding her.

All arms flew into the air in front of her in celebration of her being alive and free. She couldn't help but fly her arms triumphantly into the air too. The gypsy woman noticed that the locked up gypsies were now also free, as she spotted Clopin in the front line of the cheering crowd, grinning at her as he also waved his gloved hands in the air, victoriously. They had won. It was all over.

Her eyes drifted through the crowd to see the many beaming faces. She suddenly stopped and remembered that she wasn't the one they should be cheering for. Someone had proven himself a hero.

Jocelyna hurried back to the Cathedral's oak doors and bent low, trying to find Quasimodo in the shadows. Her eyes landed on a figure standing unevenly directly in front of her. Again, without saying a word, Jocelyna held out her hand once again and gave him another smile of encouragement.

Nothing happened for a few moments but then she heard someone in the shadows breathe in deeply before she saw a large hand slowly emerge from the dark place itself into her own. It was still shaking but the gypsy woman didn't hesitate.

She very slowly began pacing backwards onto the steps whilst holding her son's trembling hand very gently, keeping eye contact and smiling at him constantly. The gypsy paced back just a few more steps before slowly letting go of Quasimodo's hand. He was out.

Upon seeing the deformed man standing uncomfortably on the Cathedral's steps in front of them, the crowd immediately stopped cheering and began whispering anxiously to each other.

Quasimodo didn't know what to do. He was paralysed with fear. He even half-expected to be pelted with fruit again which had caused him to step a few feet backwards, ready to dash back into the Cathedral if what he anticipated did happen. The bell ringer's breathing began to get much faster.

Having noticed this as well as how frightened her son looked, Jocelyna started to pace forwards in preparation to address the crowd but, all of a sudden, something amazing stopped her.

A child had separated themselves from the uneasy crowd and began making their way up Notre Dame's steps!

Jocelyna began to notice just how pretty this child was. It was a little girl- with beautiful suntanned hair that was tied back neatly and she was wearing a simple purple dress and plain black shoes. Her eyes were the most beautiful thing about her- a light grey colour that had the same shine that Quasimodo's eyes had.

The little girl continued her ascent of the steps before stopping abruptly as she reached the top, now directly in front of Quasimodo. The crowd looked even more uncomfortable, not knowing why this girl was there and what she was going to do.

Jocelyna kept her eyes focused on the little girl standing in front of the bell ringer. Quasimodo just stood where he was, not daring to move a muscle in case it frightened her.

All the child did was just stare at Quasimodo. But it wasn't out of disgust or hatred but of mere fascination. Jocelyna was right beside her son in case anything bad did happen.

Still looking at him right in his eyes, the little girl began to edge even more nearer to the bell ringer. This made Quasimodo wince and step a few paces backwards. Then, all of a sudden, the little girl reached out to gently touch Quasimodo's face. Though this made the young man gasp and recoil, the girl did not flinch once. She wasn't afraid of him.

Jocelyna was slowly beginning to realise that the little girl really did mean no harm. Even Quasimodo realised this which eventually made him drop his defensive position and slowly melt into her warm touch. A smile began to form on the bell ringer's face as the child brought him down to her level to hug him.

It was the most touching thing Jocelyna had ever seen. This child was actually hugging Quasimodo! She couldn't feel more thrilled for her son. She held her breath, hoping this could mean what she so desperately wanted it to mean.

The child then broke away and smiled encouragingly at Quasimodo, leading him to the next step.

The bell ringer knew what the girl wanted him to do so he felt uneasy at this since he didn't have good experience with a crowd of people but eventually warmed to the idea when she protectively held his hand, just like Jocelyna had done earlier. This gave him the exact same spark of confidence that Jocelyna had given him.

The gypsy woman beamed at her son who was being led down the last few steps of the Cathedral. She now able to breathe easy, knowing for certain that this meant exactly what she thought.

It was then that she heard Clopin announce very loudly, "THREE CHEERS FOR QUASIMODO!"

This made her grin even wider. Upon hearing Clopin, the crowd immediately welcomed the bell ringer with loud outburst of cheers and applause. They were patting him on the back, laughing with him, waving their arms around him and clapping for him. The young man was beaming with absolute delight that the crowd had actually accepted him. Better yet, they saw him as a hero!

Jocelyna stepped down from the Cathedral and walked towards Clopin who was still cheering loudly with his arms above his head in celebration of Quasimodo's valour.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Clopin," said the gypsy woman whilst giving him a big hug to show her appreciation for helping the crowd along with accepting her son.

"_Mon cherie_, your kid deserves much more than that for what he did for you _and_ for us," announced Clopin simply, now beginning to jump in the air along with the cheering crowd.

Jocelyna laughed heartily at this before turning her head back to Quasimodo to see that he was now sitting on the shoulders of two crowd members and being paraded about the square.

"His life is going to be very different now," declared Clopin confidently.

Jocelyna nodded in agreement as she watched her son being paraded out the square and through the Paris streets, the crowd still cheering wildly for their champion.

Jocelyna remained side by side with Clopin, looking ahead at the walking crowd until they eventually disappeared round the bend. She sighed a little and sat down on the steps. She would have loved to have followed the crowd but she knew this was Quasimodo's moment. The crowd would have most likely cheered for her freedom too if she'd had gone with them. She wanted the cheering to be all for him. She wasn't ever going to take that away from her remarkable son.

She had stayed seated on the steps for several minutes when she spotted the archdeacon coming towards her. Clopin decided to leap after the crowd as the archdeacon sat down next to Jocelyna on the same step. She turned to him and smiled to acknowledge his presence.

He grinned at her in return and announced softly, "That's quite a boy you've got there, my dear." The gypsy woman beamed at him in complete agreement. "I'm very proud of you, Jocelyna. You proved yourself to be just as brave as your son on that evening all those years ago. You, yourself, were valiant enough to give up your child to save the innocent lives of others- most of them being complete strangers. Courage clearly runs in the family. He's very lucky to have someone like you."

The gypsy woman smiled in appreciation. "No, sir. It's the other way around," she declared proudly as she looked ahead of her once again, only to be met with the distant sound of yet another round of cheers and applause.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Only one more chapter left :-(


	27. Chapter 27 Family

**Chapter 27- Family**

"See you, Quasimodo!"

"Have a good one!"

"We look forward to seeing you soon!" were the calls of the townsfolk as they eventually departed to go to their homes.

It was now early evening and the moon was gradually beginning to rise, illuminating the beautiful Paris sky. The citizens had been celebrating and parading Quasimodo through the streets for a very long time. Quasimodo absolutely adored every moment.

Once they had put him down, he had spent quite a few hours just getting to know everyone and introducing himself properly to them. The feeling was indescribable to finally be interacting with the people he had spent his entire life yearning to be a part of. At last, he was one of them. Waiting all these years was definitely worth it in the end.

After being warmly hugged by the mother of the little girl who had approached him first on the steps, Quasimodo had just remembered his own mother. He didn't know if she would still be on the Cathedral steps but he hastily made his way through the streets and across the town square to check.

To his disappointment, the steps were empty. He decided to head to the Cathedral anyway just to see if she would be inside.

Once he reached the last step and headed inside to the main bit of the Cathedral, he spotted the kind archdeacon walking towards him.

Without warning, the archdeacon pulled Quasimodo into an embrace before speaking into his ear, "I am so proud of you, son. You deserve every inch of the town's gratitude- we owe you our lives." After pulling apart, Quasimodo gave him a warm smile to show his appreciation.

After the archdeacon gave him a hearty pat on the back, Quasimodo remembered why he was there in the first place.

"Sir, I don't know whether you know of a woman called Jocelyna..." he enquired. The archdeacon smiled and nodded to show he knew exactly who she was. "Oh, well, I was wondering if you know where she is."The man's smile widened before nodding again.

Granting the young man's wishes, he led Quasimodo through the Cathedral until they reached a fairly small, narrow brown door. The archdeacon didn't say a word as he signalled the young man to go in, never losing his smile, before drifting away.

Quasimodo opened the small door gingerly to reveal a very small room which was just as narrow as the door. A long table lay bare on the left of the room. He also noticed four lit candles on each corner of the walls, a chair on the left of him and a worn-out table on his right with a Bible that looked equally as old and worn-out.

What made his heart give a joyful leap was seeing Jocelyna sitting gracefully on a chair directly in front of him.

She beamed at the sight of her son in the door frame before getting up and almost running to embrace him. She would never be able to tell him just how proud she was of him. She just hoped the hug told him instead.

After a while, Jocelyna let Quasimodo go and, while remaining silent, signalled for him to sit on the table. She needed to ask him something very important. Once Quasimodo had gladly sat down on the table and once Jocelyna was seated in her own chair, she beamed at Quasimodo; over the moon that he had now been accepted. He returned the beam, feeling exactly the same.

Jocelyna eventually spoke. "First of all, can I just say how thrilled I am for you. I really cannot be more delighted that you finally got what you _more_ than deserved."

Quasimodo smiled meekly at her, showing his extreme modesty. He was now completely confident around her.

She continued, "I just feel it is time now to ask you something," Quasimodo nodded in approval. "Well...ok, now you're finally free, I just wanted to ask whether you would... like to...live with me... again...?" Quasimodo just looked at her. Jocelyna didn't know if this was good news or bad news for him. She hastily added, "a-at the gypsy camp...y-you, of course, don't have to decide right away and you certainly don't have to at all. I understand that living in the same place for a long time would make it difficult to suddenly move out. Whatever you choose would be completely alright with me."

Quasimodo continued to just look at the gypsy woman in front of him. He was lost for words. Jocelyna tried to look as relaxed as possible to show she was prepared to wait a thousand years for his answer if she must.

After a while of complete silence, a smile began to form on the young man's lips. It grew wider until he was actually laughing with glee before shooting off the table to embrace Jocelyna. The chair tipped backwards slightly due to the impact. Just like a few hours ago when Quasimodo accepted her as his mother, Jocelyna was beyond thrilled that he had accepted her offer.

Realising he must be crushing Jocelyna a little, Quasimodo sank to his knees at the foot of the chair whilst Jocelyna lovingly stroked his red, silky hair. Neither talked for the entire time; words were not needed.

This was the room. The very room Jocelyna remembered she was in all those many years ago, thinking she would never be able to see her son again. And yet there they both were. Together.

All those twenty miserable years of being alone, Jocelyna had prayed constantly for her and her son to be a family once again. It was clear, her prayers have been answered.

What Jocelyna had asked him made all those miserable years in the bell tower totally worth it. Never in Quasimodo's whole life would he have thought he'd ever be free from that lonely bell tower but he would never in a million years have thought he would have a mother who loves him. And yet here she is, giving him what he thought he'd never in his entire life have.

A family.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**

:*) At last Quasimodo has a family!

Well, that's all folks! I'm going to really miss writing for Jocelyna, Quasimodo and co. I'll definitely consider doing a sequel but in the meantime, I really hope you enjoyed reading this story! Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to read this! :-D


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